Page:Pascoli - Paulo Ucello.djvu/22

 CHAPTER X

Lastly how the nightingale sang and how Paulo fell asleep.

ND he was gone. Then from her green retreat The nightingale in song made question where Had gone her lover,–sweet–so sweet–so sweet.

She whistled it along the stubble bare, Gurgled it with the water’s rippling flow, Whispered it with the birch leaves through the air.

Then paused awhile. And then; subdued and slow, She questioned all the light clouds one by one, Then, trilling high, she told the winds her love.

Then she bewailed him to the moon, that shone Gleaming on stones, shimmering on grasses deep, And, in the dusky room, lit soft upon

The white-haired painter, fallen into sleep.