Erotica Romana

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"></SPAN></p> <h2> III </h2> <p>More than ever I dreamed, I have found it: my happy good fortune!<br/> <br/> Cupid sagaciously led past those palazzos so fine.<br/> <br/> He of course knows very well (and I have also discovered)<br/> <br/> What, beneath tapestries rich, gilded boudoirs conceal.<br/> <br/> One may if one wishes call him a blind, wanton boy&mdash;but I know you,<br/> <br/> Clever Cupid, too well! O, incorruptible god!<br/> <br/> We were by no means inveigled to enter fa�ades so majestic;<br/> <br/> Somber cortil� we passed, balcony high and gallant,<br/> <br/> Hastening onward until an humble but exquisite portal<br/> <br/> Offered a refuge to both, ardent seeker and guide.<br/> <br/> Here he provides me with ev'rything, sees that I get what I call for;<br/> <br/> Each day that passes he spreads freshly plucked roses for me.<br/> <br/> &mdash;Isn't that heaven on earth? Say, beautiful Lady Borghese,<br/> <br/> What would you give to me more? &mdash;You, Nipotina, what yours?<br/> <br/> Banquets and game tables, operas, balls, promenades down the Corso?<br/> <br/> These but deprive my sweet boy of his most opportune times.<br/> <br/> Finery, haughtiness do not entice me. Does one not lift a<br/> <br/> Gown of the finest brocade just as one lifts common wool?<br/> <br/> If she's to press in comfort a lover against that soft bosom,<br/> <br/> Doesn't he want her to be free from all brooches and chains?<br/> <br/> Must not the jewelry, and then the lace and the bustles and whalebone<br/> <br/> All of it come off entire, if he's to learn how she feels?<br/> <br/> I encounter no troubles like those. Simple dress of rough homespun,<br/> <br/> At but a lover's mere touch, tumbles in folds to the floor.<br/> <br/> Quickly he carries the girl as she's clad in chemise of coarse linen&mdash;<br/> <br/> Just as a nursemaid might, playfully up to her bed.<br/> <br/> Drapings of satin are absent; the mattress is quite unembroidered.<br/> <br/> Large is this room where the bed offers its comfort for two.<br/> <br/> Jupiter's welcome to more from his Juno if he can get it;<br/> <br/> Let any mortal find rest, softer, wherever he can.<br/> <br/> We are content with Cupid's delights, authentic and naked&mdash;<br/> <br/> And with the exquisite creak /crack of the bed as it rocks.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />