ONCE, deep in thought, I, passing 'neath some trees, <br />Beheld a troop of maidens gathering flowers; <br />One cried: 'Ah look'; another: 'Nay, see these,' <br />'What hast thou there? ' 'I doubt not lily-showers.' <br />'And here, I trow, are violets blue.' <br />A rose — woe's me, a thorn hath pricked my finger through! ' <br />'Alas, alas! ' <br />What's that in the grass? ' <br />'A cricket.' 'Make haste, <br />Here are salads to taste.' <br />'No, no! ' <br />'But it's so.' <br />97 'Thee and thee I will show <br />Where the mushrooms do grow: <br />And this is the way <br />For the wild-thyme spray.' <br />'Come homewards, it darkeneth and soon it will rain, <br />It lightens, it thunders, hark! vespers again! ' <br />'But it's early still! ' <br />'Lend an ear if you will.' <br />'The nightingale, I'll be bound.' <br />'I hear a louder sound.' <br />' 'Tis strange to me.' <br />'O what can it be? ' <br />'Where, where? ' <br />'Out there? ' <br />'In the bushes.' Tic, toc. <br />Ever nearer the knock, <br />Till a snake crept out: <br />Then they turned about <br />In a wild affright: <br />'Ah me, sorry plight! ' <br />'Alack aday! ' <br />'Flee away! ' <br />Then the rain poured down forlorn, <br />One slipped, another fell, <br />One trod upon a thorn, <br />Bossoms were spilled pell-mell, <br />Some cast aside, some left to lie, <br />Most fortunate who could swiftest fly: <br />And while I watched what they would do <br />The rain-shower drenched me through and through.<br /><br />Franco Sacchetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/caccia/
