My Rendezvous With Venice Poem by ratnaprabha raykar

As our motorboat sashayed towards Venice
I sat nonplussed!
was Venice coming towards me
or was I converging on to it?
blaming it on a plethora of
expectations and memories
memories...can I call them so?
memories..of reading in books
not forgetting shakespeare's
'Merchant of Venice'
and Amitabh and Zeenat'gondola ride


As I stepped on to the byzantine mosaics
prepping my mind to absorb every essence
however minute


St Mark's Square...a magical place
peace and joy abound
making me linger around
no hoots or horn, only people
hustle and bustle play truant
only folks enjoying their tarriance

'the bridge of sighs'no longer bleak
swarming with people aiming for selfies
am happier though for it


moving silently in a gondola
humming of the gondolier making my eyes misty
the silence..unbelievable
the romance...palpable


our evening gone in a jiffy
and back were we on our sojourn forward