In the Square of the Basilica of San Marco

"…four gilded bronze horses gleam, the artist gave them such likeness to the living, that it seems you hear their thunder and their neighing." Francesco Petrarch

A golden quadriga on the balcony, Before the race, wild horses prance and strain, The artist gave them living verity— Their beauty, form, and noble refrain.

Triumphant lines of victory display, With snorting breath and neigh to match their fire. And lo—not whispers of admiring sway, But hippodrome's roar, wild and dire.

A living Byzantine quadriga bright Beneath the sun of all similitude, Her reins are grasped with fury in their might By Delphi's kouros—bronze, the charioteer shrewd!

Thus spoke to me the poet Petrarch there In San Marco's square, the plaza fair.