3. DIANA.
Edgar Alfred Bowring translation
1.
These fair limbs, of size so massive, Of colossal womanhood, Now are, in a yielding mood, Under my embraces passive. 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.