The Soft Light of Early Spring in Venice

"Sometimes
when he dozed,
he would bask
in the hazy, soft light
of Bellosguardo
in the early spring,

"the distances all misty,
feeling the sheer pleasure
of sunlight
on his face,

"sitting in a chair,
close to the wall of the old house
with the smell of wisteria
and early roses and jasmine.

"He would hope
when he woke
that the day would be like the dream,
that traces of the ease and the color
and the light would linger
at the edge of things
until night fell again.

Colm Tóibín, "The Master: A Novel"
(c) 2004 by Colm Tóibín

Quoted from page 3 -
Chapter One, January 1895 -
First Scribner Edition
New York 2004

Photographed in Venice
February 2009