1. Se Amor mai da vu se vede, Cari putti, a gogolar, Per pietà no deghe fede, No lo stessi a carezzar. Sulla bocca el mostra il riso, La dolcezza sul suo viso; Ma col rider sulla bocca El ve pizzica, ve tocca, E fra mezzo alle carezze Mille dardi, mille frezze Quel furbazzo sa misciar. 2. Saven come me l'ha fatto A chiapparmi sto briccon? El s'ha messo come un gatto Quacchio quacchio in cuffolon. L'aspetta ch'un di Ninetta Me contasse una fiabetta, Mi credendo esser in porto, De colù non m'avea accorto, E la vien per la drio via, Chiappa, strenze e mena via, Nè val pianto, nè rason.

1. Oh, my children, if you ever Look on Love while he's at play, Never stop to hear him, never! Or caress him on your way. Not a mouth so sweetly smiling, Not a face that's so beguiling: Tho' his lips are wreath'd in laughter, He will stab you to the heart a minute after; Like a thousand pointed arrows His caresses pierce your marrows, Till the rogue has caught his prey. 2. Have I told you how he caught me When he gave my heart this wound? How he slily creeping sought me Like a cat upon the ground? I was list'ning to a story That Ninetta was relating, And I never thought to worry, For I did not see him waiting: Then he softly came behind me, And so tightly he did bind me, That relief I've never found!

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Marzo, Eduardo. Songs of Italy; sixty-five Tuscan, Florentine, Lombardian and other Italian folk- and popular songs. New York: G. Schirmer, 1904. 38

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