GIRL … Ay, and a neatherd ravished the wise Helen. | |
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DAPHNIS Nay, Helen won him with a willing kiss. | |
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GIRL Boast not, young satyr, for—‘a kiss is naught.’ | |
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DAPHNIS Yet empty kisses have a sweet delight. | |
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GIRL I rub my mouth and blow thy kiss away. | 5 |
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DAPHNIS Dost rub thy lips? Give them again to kiss! | |
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GIRL Heifers should’st thou kiss, not an unwed maid. | |
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DAPHNIS Boast not, for Youth drifts by thee like a dream. | |
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GIRL But raisins come from grapes, the dried rose lives. | |
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DAPHNIS I, too, age; let me drink that milk and honey! | 10 |
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GIRL Hands off!—Would’st dare?—I’ll scratch thy lips again! | |
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DAPHNIS Come ’neath yon olives! I would tell a tale. | |
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GIRL Nay, with a sweet tale thou beguil’dst me once. | |
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DAPHNIS Come ’neath yon elms, and listen to my pipe! | |
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GIRL Pleasure thyself! No silly song love I. | 15 |
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DAPHNIS Ah, maiden, maiden, dread the Paphian’s wrath! | |
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GIRL Good-bye to her, if Artemis be kind! | |
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DAPHNIS Hush, lest she fling thee in her scapeless toils! | |
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GIRL Nay, let her fling me! Artemis will save. | |
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DAPHNIS Thou can’st not flee from Love; no maiden can. | 20 |
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GIRL By Pan, I do! But thou aye bear’st his yoke. | |
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DAPHNIS I fear he give thee to a meaner man. | |
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GIRL Many my wooers, but none hath my heart. | |
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DAPHNIS A wooer, too, ’mongst many here I come. | |
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GIRL What shall I do, friend? Full of woe is wedlock. | 25 |
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DAPHNIS Nor woe nor pain hath marriage, but a dance. | |
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GIRL Ay, but they say that women dread their lords. | |
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DAPHNIS Nay, rule them rather. What do women fear? | |
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GIRL Travail I dread. Keen pangs hath childbearing. | |
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DAPHNIS Thy lady Artemis will ease the pain. | 30 |
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GIRL But I fear childbirth for my beauty’s sake. | |
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DAPHNIS A mother, thou shalt glory in thy sons. | |
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GIRL What wedding-gift dost bring, if I say ‘yes’? | |
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DAPHNIS My herd, my woodland, and my pasturage. | |
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GIRL Swear not to leave me after to my woe! | 35 |
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DAPHNIS Never, by Pan, e’en did’st thou drive me forth! | |
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GIRL Wilt build a chambered house and yard-walls for me? | |
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DAPHNIS I’ll build a chambered house, and tend thy flocks. | |
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GIRL But oh! what shall I tell my aged sire? | |
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DAPHNIS He’ll praise thy wedlock, when he learns my name. | 40 |
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GIRL Tell me thy name. A name oft gives delight. | |
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DAPHNIS Daphnis—Nomaea’s child and Lycidas’. | |
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GIRL Well-born indeed! But no less well am I. | |
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DAPHNIS Of honoured birth, I know. Thy sire’s Menalcas. | |
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GIRL Show me thy grove where stands thy cattle-stall. | 45 |
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DAPHNIS Hither, and see how soft my cypress blooms! | |
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GIRL Browse, goats; I go to view the herdsman’s place. | |
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DAPHNIS Feed, bulls; I’ll show my grove unto the maid. | |
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GIRL What dost thou, satyr? Why dost touch my breasts? | |
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DAPHNIS To know if these young apples there are ripening. | 50 |
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GIRL By Pan, I faint; Take back that hand of thine! | |
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DAPHNIS Courage, dear girl! Why shak’st thou so for fear? | |
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GIRL Would’st thrust me in the ditch and wet my gown? | |
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DAPHNIS See, I will throw this fleece beneath thy robe. | |
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GIRL My girdle is torn off! Why did’st thou loose it? | 55 |
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DAPHNIS I vow this firstling to the Paphian one. | |
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GIRL Oh wait!… If some one came!… I hear a noise! | |
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DAPHNIS The cypresses are murmuring of our love. | |
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GIRL My kirtle is in rags, and I am naked. | |
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DAPHNIS An ampler kirtle will I give to thee … | 60 |
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GIRL All things today; perhaps no salt tomorrow! | |
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DAPHNIS … And oh to give my life along with it! | |
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GIRL Forgive me, Artemis; I break thy vow! | |
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DAPHNIS I’ll slay a calf to Love, the cow to Cypris. | |
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GIRL A maid I hither came, a woman go. | 65 |
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DAPHNIS Yea, but a mother and a nurse of children. | |
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| So these twain, joying in their youthful limbs, | |
| Babbled together, and Love’s stolen sweet | |
| Tasted. Then up she rose, and silently | |
| Moved off to tend her flock, her eyes downcast, | 70 |
| But gladness in her heart. He towards his herd | |
| Of bulls departed full of Love’s delight. | |
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