CUERVO - Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia

226 DRAMATIC ROMANCES AND LYRICS
But when I saw that woman's face,
Its calm simplicity of grace,
Our Italy's o ... m attitude
In which she wallwd thus far, and stood,
Planting each naked foot so firm,
To crush the snake and spare the worm­
At first sight of her eyes, I said,
" I am that man upon whose head
" They fix the price, because I hate
" The Austrians over us: the State
" Will give you gold-oh, gold so much,
" If you betray me to their clutch I
" And be your death, for aught I know,
" If once they find you saved their fpe.
" Now, you must bring me food and drink.
" And also paper, pen, and ink,
" And carry sate what I shall writl.'l
" To Padua, which you'll reach at night
" Before the Duorno shuts; go in,
" And wait till Tepebrre begin;
" Walk to the third Confessional,
" Between the pillar and the wall,
" And kneeling whisper whence comes peace?
" Say it a second time; then cease;
" And if the voice inside returns,
" From Christ and Freedom,. what concerns
" The cause ot Peace ?-for answer, slip
" My letter where you placed your lip ;
" Then come back happy we have done
" Our mother service-I, the son,
" As you the daughter of our land I "
Three mornings more, she took her stand
In the same place, with the same eyes :
I was no surer of sun-rise
Than of her coming: we conferred
Of her own prospects, and I heard
She had a lover-stout and tall,
She said-then let her eyelids fall,
" He could do much "-as if some doubt
Entered her heart,-then, passing out,
" She could not speak for others-who
" Had other thoughts; herself she knew: ..
And so she brought me drink and food.
After four days, the scouts pursued
Another path: at last arrived
The help my Paduan friends contrived
To furnish me: she brought the news:
For the first time I could not choose
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