Had I, with unbridled passion,
Trusting in my strength drawn near,
I had soon had cause for fear!
She had thrashed me in strange fashion.
How her bosom, neck, throat charm me
(Higher I can scarcely see);
Ere alone I’d with her be,
Pray I that she may not harm me.
2.
’Twas in the Bay of Biscay
That she first saw the light;
Two kittens in the cradle
She squeezed to death outright.
Across the Pyrenees she
With feet uncover’d ran;
Then for her size gigantic
Was shown at Perpignan.
She’s now the grandest dame in
The Faubourg Saint-Denis,
Where unto small Sir William
Some thousand pounds costs she.
3.
Often when I am with thee,
Much-beloved and noble lady,
The remembrance steals o’er me
Of Bologna’s market shady.
There a massive fount doth stand—
’Tis the Giants’ Fountain pretty—
With a Neptune, by the hand
Of Giovanni of that city.