Though thou wert fain to pass me quickly,
Yet backward didst thou look by chance;
Thy wistful lips were frankly parted,
Impetuous scorn was in thy glance.
Would that I ne'er had sought to hold thee,
To touch thy fleeing gown's white train!
The dear mark of thy tiny footprints
Would that I ne'er had found again!
For now thy rare wild charm has vanished,
Like others thou art tame to see,
Intolerably kind and gentle—
Alas! thou art in love with me.
III.
Ne'er can I believe, young beauty,
Thy disdainful lips alone:
For such big black eyes as thine are
Virtue never yet did own.
And those brown-streaked lies down-glancing
Say "I love thee!" clearly scanned,
Let thy little white heart kiss me—
White heart, dost thou understand?
IV.
From the slightest of emotions,
What a sudden transformation,
To the most unbounded passion,
And the tenderest relation!
Every day it waxes deeper,
My affection for my lady.
I am almost half-persuaded
That I am in love already.
Beautiful her soul: though truly
That's a question of opinion.
I am surer of the beauty
Of the bodily dominion.