White phantom city, whose untrodden streets
Are rivers, and whose pavements are the shifting
Shadows of palaces and strips of sky;
I wait to see thee vanish like the fleets
Seen in mirage, or towers of cloud uplifting
In air their unsubstantial masonry.
From "Venice", by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Portland, 27 febbraio 1807 – Cambridge, 24 marzo 1882)