LVIII THE CAVE OF THE NYMPHS

THY feet are more delicate than those of silvery Thetis. Between thy crossed arms thou unitest thy breasts, cradling them softly like the bodies of two fair doves.

Beneath thy hair thou dissemblest thy moist eyes, thy trembling mouth and the pink flowers of thine ears; but nothing stops my regard nor the warm breath of my kiss.

For, in the secret of thy body, it is thou, Mnasidika, beloved, who hidest the cave of the nymphs of which old Homer spoke, the place where the naiads weave their purple linens.

The place where glide, drop by drop, the inexhaustible springs and where the gate of the North lets men descend and the gate of the South lets immortals enter.