The end of a perfect summer’s day –
we ramble down the canal path, past Pirate Castle
and the shopping arcade where confetti sale signs
camouflage lives mired in quiet desperation.
Harassed shoppers go about their business,
wearing their mask of disappointments discreetly.
Everybody is dreaming of being somebody,
preparing to be chosen, immortalized for eternity.
Admiring the moored boats, we move along the track.
Suddenly, we are in the presence of five stunning villas –
Ionic, Veneto, Gothic, Corinthian, Tuscan –
already celebrated, recorded for posterity.
The water in the canal does not stop to consider
the inequities of our world. Unaware of its separateness,
it is one with the sunlight dancing on its surface,
lost in the moment’s magical forgetfulness.
Birds, insects shimmy out and dazzle, pushing invisible
boundaries. Fish peer through the golden purdah,
mouths wide open gulping the day,
marvel at this illuminated cathedral of nature.
