White Stains

AD LYDIAM, UT SECUM A MARITO FUGERET 29 Filled with green lawns and forests black with pine, Where the clear stream shall sing us into sleep With murmuring faintly, and divine device : Come with me there, and we will surely twine Bright wreaths of Alpine gentian for thine head, Those glowing tresses, auburn in the sun, And in the night, dim fires of matchless red To hold my love, and lead my kisses on From night to night upon the purple bed Of dark embraces ; till the summer is gone We will forget in love the world of tears Whose tumult reaches not our amorous ears. 3 Come with me thither. Let the chaster snow Blush at the sunset, when our limbs grow fain To twine close caressing, let it blush Redder at sunrise, when our eyelids grow Weary of kissing, and our arms again Slowly unclasp, and our fair cheeks do flush With memory’s modesty. The mountains glow Warmer and whiter, dreamland’s power shall wane While the sun tints the beauty of the bush And all the forest with his finger-tips