I marked where lovely Venus and her court With song and dance and merry laugh went by;
Weightless, their wingless feet seemed made to fly,
Bound from the ground and in mid air to sport.
Left far behind I heard the dolphins snort,
Tracking their goddess with a wistful eye,
Around whose head white doves rose, wheeling high Or low, and cooed after their tender sort.
All this I saw in Spring.
Through Summer heat I saw the lovely Queen of Love no more.
But when flushed Autumn through the woodlands went I spied sweet Venus walk amid the wheat:
Whom seeing, every harvester gave o'er His toil, and laughed and hoped and was content.
