Venice (1889) by Friedrich Nietzsche
At the bridge I stood
lately in the brown night.
lately in the brown night.
From afar came a song:
as a golden drop it welled
over the trembling surface.
Gondolas, lights, and music –
drunken it swam out into the twilight.
My soul, a stringed instrument
sang to itself, invisibly touched,
a secret gondola song,
quivering with iridescent happiness.
– Did anyone listen to it?
