59 FANCIES IN FILIGREE
Reading edition
—Strambotti of Alessandro de Medici.
XXIV
“Guarda negli occhi la nostra regina”
My Lady’s Eyes Remembrance bring Of lyttel Waves whose Wavering Beneathe ye roving Summer Breeze Makes scintillant hushed Summer Seas Whenas ye Sun is vanishing. They gladden me, as when in Spring We sing & knowe not why we sing. In sooth, there be noe Eyes like these My Lady’s Eyes. Whenas their Glance is threatening They frighten Cupid, & that King From Florimel a-quaking flees; But when they soften, on hys Knees Love falls before them worshipping My Lady’s Eyes.
XLI
“Rime d’amore usar dolci e leggiadre”
Ye little Rhyme I swore last Night To lay before ye Eyes so bright I have long loved—& loved too well!— So now ye Muses to compell, & shapely Phrases to indite. Which shall it be?—Ye Villanelle, Ode, Triolet, Rondeau, Rondel, Ballade, or Sonnet?—Each is hight Ye littel Rhyme. Yet none will aide my hapless Plight: All little Rhymes are short & slight, & of ye Charmes of Florimel An Epick’s Length alone can tell,— So that of her I may not write Ye lyttel Rhyme.