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The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Edited with Preface and Notes by William M. Rossetti: Revised and Enlarged Edition

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RUGGIERI DI AMICI, SICILIANO

Canzonetta

For a Renewal of Favours

I play this sweet prelude
For the best heart, and queen
Of gentle womanhood,
From here unto Messene;
Of flowers the fairest one;
The star that's next the sun;
The brightest star of all.
What time I look at her,
My thoughts do crowd and stir
And are made musical.
Sweetest my lady, then
Wilt thou not just permit,
As once I spoke, again
That I should speak of it?
My heart is burning me
Within, though outwardly
I seem so brave and gay.
Ah! dost thou not sometimes
Remember the sweet rhymes
Our lips made on that day?—

477

When I her heart did move
By kisses and by vows,
Whom I then called my love,
Fair-haired, with silver brows:
She sang there as we sat;
Nor then withheld she aught
Which it were right to give;
But said, “Indeed I will
Be thine through good and ill
As long as I may live.”
And while I live, dear love,
In gladness and in need
Myself I will approve
To be thine own indeed.
If any man dare blame
Our loves,—bring him to shame,
O God! and of this year
Let him not see the May.
Is't not a vile thing, say,
To freeze at Midsummer?