ODE XV
JUVENILITIES

When I was yet a child,
A child Dorila too,
To gather there the flowerets wild,
We roved the forest through.

And gaily garlands then,
With passing skill display’d,
To crown us both, in childish vein,
Her little fingers made.

And thus our joys to share,
In such our thoughts and play,
We pass’d along, a happy pair,
The hours and days away.

But ev’n in sports like these,
Soon age came hurrying by!
And of our innocence the ease
Malicious seem’d to fly.

I knew not how it was,
To see me she would smile;
And but to speak to her would cause
Me pleasure strange the while.

Then beat my heart the more,
When flowers to her I brought;
And she, to wreathe them as before,
Seem’d silent, lost in thought.

One evening after this
We saw two turtle-doves,
With trembling throat, who, wrapt in bliss,
Were wooing in their loves.

In manifest delight,
With wings and feathers bow’d,
Their eyes fix’d on each other bright,
They languish’d, moaning loud.

The example made us bold,
And with a pure caress,
The troubles we had felt we told,
Our pains and happiness.

And at once from our view
Then, like a shadow, fled
Our childhood and its joys, but new,
Love gave us his instead.