Song: When thou thy pliant arms.
[Secundus.]
When thou thy pliant arms dost wreathe
About my neck, and gently breathe
Into my breast that soft sweet air
With which thy soul doth mine repair;
When my faint life thou draw’st away,5
(My life which scorching flames decay,)
O’ercharg’d, my panting bosom boils,
Whose fever thy kind art beguiles,
And with the breath that did inspire
Doth mildly fan my glowing fire.10
Transported, then I cry: ‘Above
All other deities is Love!
Or if a deity there be
Greater than Love, ’tis only thee.’
Song: ’Tis no kiss.
[Secundus.]
’Tis no kiss my Fair bestows!
Nectar ’tis, whence new life flows.
All the sweets which nimble bees
In their osier treasuries
With unequall’d art repose,5
In one kiss, her lips disclose.
These, if I should many take,
Soon would me immortal make,
Rais’d to the divine abodes,
And the banquets of the gods.10
Be not, then, too lavish, Fair!
But this heavenly treasure spare,
’Less thou’lt, too, immortal be:
For without thy company
What to me were the abodes15
Or the banquets of the gods?
Translated from Anacreon.
I. The Chase.