Dost warm thyself, if I may trust to looks, Which the heart’s witnesses are wont to be, May the desire come unto thee to draw Near to this river’s bank,” I said to her, “So much that I might hear what thou art singing. Thou makest me remember where and what Proserpina that moment was when lost 1075 Her mother her, and she herself the Spring.” As turns herself, with feet together pressed And to the ground, a lady who is dancing, And hardly puts one foot before the other, On the vermilion and the yellow flowerets She turned towards me, not in other wise Than maiden who her modest eyes casts down; And my entreaties made to be content, So near approaching, that the dulcet sound Came unto me together with its meaning. As soon as she was where the grasses are Bathed by the waters of the beauteous river, To lift her eyes she granted me the boon. I do not think there shone so great a light Under the lids of Venus, when transfixed 1076
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