How sad Venice can be   When you return alone   To find a memory   In every paving stone      I walk among the birds   That fill San Marco's Square   With echoes of her words   Around me in the air      How sad Venice can be   When the mandolins play   A song she sung for me   One unforgotten day      Like images of sleep   The gondoliers go by   But when I try to weep   I find my tears are dry      How sad Venice can be   When mist is in your eyes   And you can hardly see   As pidgeons fill the skies      I find the little street   And then the old café   Where we would always meet   To dream away the day      How sad Venice can be   Beneath the silent moon   That rises from the sea   And silvers the lagoon      I hear the vespers chime   And cross the Bridge of Sighs   I know that it is time   To bid my last goodbyes      There's nothing more to say   I pass beneath the light   And then I turn away   From Venice in the night      How sad Venice can be   It's too lonely to bear   When you have lost the love   That you discovered there.