"For there are ladies in the court
To my desires would fain consent,
And lovely Bendarrafa once
These jealous words but lately sent:
"'Those letters and those written lines,
Why dost thou not their sense divine?
Are they not printed on thy heart
As thy loved image is on mine?
"'Why art thou absent still so long?
It cannot be that thou art dead?'"
Then ceased the King and silent stood,
While Tarfe to his Celia said:
"Celestial Celia be thy name;
Celestial calm is on thy brow;
Yet all the radiance of thy face
Thy cruelty eclipses now.
"A witch like Circe dost thou seem;
For Circe could o'ercloud the sky;
Oh, let the sun appear once more,
And bid the clouds of darkness fly!
"Ah, would to God that on the feast,
The Baptist's consecrated day,
I might my arms about thee fling
And lead thee from thy home away.
"Yet say not that 'tis in thy power
To yield or all my hopes to kill;
For thou shalt learn that all the world,
In leaguer, cannot bend my will.
"And France can tell how many a time
I fought upon the tented field,
And forced upon their bended knee
Her loftiest paladins to yield.
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