“I can outstrip the breeze Fast as it flieth: I’ll be the swift sun-ray That melts the ice away And the grass drieth!” XII. “Sunlight if thou become, Are my wiles ended? I’ll be a lizard green, And quaff the golden sheen To make me splendid!” XIII. “Be thou a Triton, hid In the dark sedges! I’m the moon by whose ray Fairies and witches pay Their mystic pledges!” XIV. “If thou the moon wilt be Sailing in glory, I’ll be the halo white Hovering every night Around and o’er thee!” XV. “Yet shall thy shadowy arm Embrace me never! I will turn virgin rose, And all my thorns oppose To thee for ever!” XVI. “If thou become a rose, Vain too shall this be! Seest thou not that I, As a bright butterfly, Freely may kiss thee?” XVII. “Urge, then, thy mad pursuit: Idly thou’lt follow! I’ll in the deep wood bide; I’ll in the old oak hide, Gnarlèd and hollow.” XVIII. “In the dim forest glade Wilt thou be hidden? I’ll be the ivy-vine, And my long arms entwine Round thee unbidden!” XIX. “Fold thine arms tightly, then: Clasp the oak only! I’ll a white sister be! Far off in St. Blasi, Secure and lonely!” XX. “Be thou a white-veiled nun Come to confession, I will be there as priest, Thee freely to divest Of all transgression!” The startled women their cocoons let fall. “Noro, make haste!” outspake they one and all: “What could our hunted Magali answer then? A nun, poor dear, who had already been A cloud, a bird, a fish, an oak, a flower, The sun, the moon, the stream, in one short hour?” “Ah, yes!” said Noro, “I the rest will sing: She was, I think, the cloister entering; And that mad fowler dared to promise her He would in the confessional appear, And shrive her. Therefore hear what she replies: The maid hath yet another last device:”-- XXI. “Enter the sacred house! I shall be sleeping, Robed in a winding-sheet, Nuns at my head and feet, Above me weeping.” XXII. “If thou wert lifeless dust, My toils were o’er: I’d be the yawning grave, Thee in my arms to have For evermore!” XXIII. “Now know I thou art true, Leave me not yet! Come, singer fair, and take, And wear it for my sake, This annulet!” XXIV. “Look up, my blessed one, The heaven scan! Since the stars came to see Thee, O my Magali, They are turned wan!” A silence fell, the sweet song being ended: Only with the last moving notes had blended The voices of the rest. Their heads were drooping, As they before the melody were stooping, Like slender reeds that lean and sway for ever Before the flowing eddies of a river.