Simples

Simples

(Trieste, 1914)





O bella bionda,
Sei come l'onda!

[song]
Fair as the wave is, fair, art thou! (see below)




Of cool sweet dew and radiance mild



The moon a web of silence weaves



In the still garden where a child



Gathers the simple salad leaves.







A moondew stars her hanging hair



And moonlight kisses her young brow



And, gathering, she sings an air:



Fair as the wave is, fair, art thou!







Be mine, I pray, a waxen ear



To shield me from her childish croon



And mine a shielded heart for her



Who gathers simples of the moon.