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Translated by Henry Stanley
ONE evening in the Piazzetta, | |
| Mocenigo, the handsome: | |
| “Biondinetta, Biondinetta!” | |
| He exclaimed gayly, meeting me; | |
| “Dost thou know, dear Venetian, | 5 |
| That thy Madonna has given thee | |
| The small hand of a Patrician, | |
| And large eyes to be loved? | |
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| “Dost thou know that it seems to me, | |
| Cospetto! a great sin, | 10 |
| That you should carry water to sell | |
| On your delicate shoulder? | |
| Come with me, dear one, come, | |
| For I would bring you up | |
| To rule like a queen | 15 |
| In palaces of looking-glass.” | |
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| One day beside the fountain | |
| Titian said to me, softly: | |
| “There is no hand in a condition | |
| To attempt thy portrait; | 20 |
| But I swear by the superb sun, | |
| If thou wishest it, on the spot, | |
| I will make thee immortal, | |
| Attempting only thy shadow.” | |
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| To-day, in the morning mist, | 25 |
| The new Doge perceived me, | |
| And in the piazza of St. Mark, | |
| Was coming down from the palace. | |
| “Venetian maiden, | |
| Biondinetta!” said he, | 30 |
| “To-morrow into the Adriatic Sea | |
| I am to throw this ring. | |
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| “To-morrow, in purple and in gold, | |
| I am to be crowned, | |
| And in the old Bucentaur | 35 |
| To be carried through Venice. | |
| Say that thou wilt be my wife, | |
| I swear by Saint Mark | |
| To devote to thee, Biondina, to thee, | |
| All the pomp of a monarch.” | 40 |
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| But Biondinetta, the discerning one, | |
| Pursuing rapidly her course, | |
| To all three with sweet words | |
| Answered thus, laughing: | |
| “There is no clearer looking-glass, | 45 |
| There is no portrait more angelic, | |
| Than that which shows itself to me | |
| When I look into the fountain. | |
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| “There are no marks of grandeur, | |
| Nor rings of ruby, | 50 |
| With a sweeter glistening | |
| Than the eyes of Tonin. | |
| Than the gondolas in the Piazzetta | |
| There is no throne more to be desired | |
| By his beloved Biondinetta | 55 |
| When he rows her, the happy one.” | |
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