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y began to sing to these words. ANTONIO'S BALLAD Thou dost love me well, Olalla; Well I know it, even though Love's mute tongues, thine eyes, have never By their glances told me so. For I know my love thou knowest, Therefore thine to claim I dare: Once it ceases to be secret, Love need never feel despair. True it is, Olalla, sometimes Thou hast all too plainly shown That thy heart is brass in hardness, And thy snowy bosom stone. Yet for all that, in thy coyness, And thy fickle fits between, Hope is there--at least the border Of her garment may be seen. Lures to faith are they, those glimpses, And to faith in thee I hold; Kindness cannot make it stronger, Coldness cannot make it cold. If it be that love is gentle, In thy gentleness I see Something holding out assurance To the hope of winning thee. If it be that in devotion Lies a power hearts to move, That which every day I show thee, Helpful to my suit should prove. Many a time thou must have noticed-- If to notice thou dost care-- How I go about on Monday Dressed in all my Sunday wear. Love's eyes love to look on brightness; Love loves what is gaily drest; Sunday, Monday, all I care is Thou shouldst see me in my best. No account I make of dances, Or of strains that pleased thee so, Keeping thee awake from midnight Till the cocks began to crow; Or of how I roundly swore it That there's none so fair as thou; True it is, but as I said it, By the girls I'm hated now. For Teresa of the hillside At my praise of thee was sore; Said, "You think you love an angel; It's a monkey you adore; "Caught by all her glittering trinkets, And her borrowed braids of hair, And a host of made-up beauties That would Love himself ensnare." 'T was a lie, and so I told her, And her cousin at the word Gave me his defiance for it; And what followed thou hast heard. Mine is no high-flown affection, Mine no passion par amours-- As they call it--what I offer Is an honest love, and pure. Cunning cords the holy Church has, Cords of softest silk they be; Put thy neck beneath the yoke, dear; Mine will follow, thou wilt see. Else--and once for all I swear it By the saint of most renown-- If I ever quit the mountains, 'T will be in a friar's gown. Here the goatherd brought his song to an end, and though Don Quixote entreated him to sing more, Sancho had no mind that wa
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