Bridge of Sighs

from the water reflects

the beauty of symmetries

six columns and floral windows

limestone white in morning light

roof and base matching arches

sealed by a curlicue of scrolls

between squat pedestals

the carved facade replete

with busts of mythic figures

inside, we briefly pause, glimpse

a gondola gliding on sunlit canal

through a slivered aperture

in thick rough-hewn stone

the chiselled lattice forming

a pattern of tightly bound

intersecting circles, the openings

all diamonds, pointed petals

and curved triangles

a last glimpse for petty criminals

before the incarceration that awaits —

small cells on the other side