Hast thou no love to give me? [_The_ DUCHESS _starts_, _and_ GUIDO _falls at her feet_.] O dear saint, If I have been too daring, pardon me! Thy beauty sets my boyish blood aflame, And, when my reverent lips touch thy white hand, Each little nerve with such wild passion thrills That there is nothing which I would not do To gain thy love. [_Leaps up_.] Bid me reach forth and pluck Perilous honour from the lion’s jaws, And I will wrestle with the Nemean beast On the bare desert! Fling to the cave of War A gaud, a ribbon, a dead flower, something That once has touched thee, and I’ll bring it back Though all the hosts of Christendom were there, Inviolate again! ay, more than this, Set me to scale the pallid white-faced cliffs Of mighty England, and from that arrogant shield Will I raze out the lilies of your France Which England, that sea-lion of the sea, Hath taken from her! O dear Beatrice, Drive me not from thy presence! without thee The heavy minutes crawl with feet of lead, But, while I look upon thy loveliness, The hours fly like winged Mercuries And leave existence golden. DUCHESS I did not think I should be ever loved: do you indeed Love me so much as now you say you do? GUIDO Ask of the sea-bird if it loves the sea, Ask of the roses if they love the rain, Ask of the little lark, that will not sing Till day break, if it loves to see the day:— And yet, these are but empty images, Mere shadows of my love, which is a fire So great that all the waters of the main Can not avail to quench it. Will you not speak? DUCHESS I hardly know what I should say to you. GUIDO Will you not say you love me? DUCHESS Is that my lesson? Must I say all at once? ’Twere a good lesson If I did love you, sir; but, if I do not, What shall I say then? GUIDO If you do not love me, Say, none the less, you do, for on your tongue Falsehood for very shame would turn to truth. DUCHESS What if I do not speak at all? They say Lovers are happiest when they are in doubt GUIDO Nay, doubt would kill me, and if I must die, Why, let me die for joy and not for doubt. Oh, tell me may I stay, or must I go? DUCHESS I would not have you either stay or go; For if you stay you steal my love from me, And if you go you take my love away. Guido, though all the morning stars could sing They could not tell the measure of my love. I love you, Guido. GUIDO [_stretching out his hands_] Oh, do not cease at all; I thought the nightingale sang but at night; Or if thou needst must cease, then let my lips Touch the sweet lips that can such music make. DUCHESS To touch my lips is not to touch my heart. GUIDO Do you close that against me? DUCHESS