25 ALONE IN APRIL
Reading edition
“In un boschetto trovai pastorella”
—? Guerzo di Montecanti.
Rustling leaves of the willow-tree Peering downward at you and me, And no man else in the world to see. Only the birds, whose dusty coats Show dark in the green—whose throbbing throats Turn joy to music and love to notes. Lean your body against the tree, Lifting your red lips up to me, Ettarre, and kiss, with no man to see! And let us laugh for a little.—Yea, Let love and laughter herald the day When laughter and love will be put away. Then you will remember the willow-tree And this very hour, and remember me, Ettarre,—whose face you will no more see! So swift, so swift the glad time goes, And Eld and Death with their countless woes Draw near, and the end thereof no man knows. Lean your body against the tree, Lifting your red lips up to me, Ettarre, and kiss, with no man to see!