And look'd upon the lady, in whose cheek
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DON JUAN, CANTO 1 / 709
1195 The pale contended with the purple rose,
As with an effort she began to speak;
Her eyes were eloquent, her words would pose, Although she told him, in good modern Greek,
With an Ionian accent, low and sweet,
1200 That he was faint, and must not talk, but eat.
$ $
168
And every day by day-break?-rather early
For Juan, who was somewhat fond of rest?
She came into the cave, but it was merely
1340 To see her bird reposing in his nest; And she would softly stir his locks so curly,
Without disturbing her yet slumbering guest,
Breathing all gently o'er his cheek and mouth,
As o'er a bed of roses the sweet south.1
169
1345 And every morn his colour freshlier came,
And every day help'd on his convalescence;
'Twas well, because health in the human frame
Is pleasant, besides being true love's essence,
For health and idleness to passion's flame
1350 Are oil and gunpowder; and some good lessons
Are also learnt from Ceres2 and from Bacchus,
Without whom Venus will not long attack us.
170
While Venus fills the heart (without heart really
Love, though good always, is not quite so good)
1355 Ceres presents a plate of vermicelli,?
For love must be sustain'd like flesh and blood,?
While Bacchus pours out wine, or hands a jelly:
Eggs, oysters too, are amatory food;
But who is their purveyor from above
1360 Heaven knows,?it may be Neptune, Pan, or Jove.
171
When Juan woke he found some good things ready,
A bath, a breakfast, and the finest eyes
That ever made a youthful heart less steady,
Besides her maid's, as pretty for their size;
1365 But I have spoken of all this already? And repetition's tiresome and unwise,?
Well?Juan, after bathing in the sea,
Came always back to coffee and Haidee.
172
Both were so young, and one so innocent,
1370 That bathing pass'd for nothing; Juan seem'd
1. The south wind. 2. Ceres, goddess of the grain; Bacchus, god of wine and revelry.
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Guarded by shoals and rocks as by an host,
