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.