Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: OF THREE GIRLS AND OF THEIR TALK by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO

First Line: BY A CLEAR WELL, WITHIN A LITTLE FIELD
Last Line: "A GIRL WOULD BE A FOOL TO RUN AWAY."
Subject(s): LOVE; SONNET (AS LITERARY FORM);

BY a clear well, within a little field
Full of green grass and flowers of every hue,
Sat three young girls, relating (as I knew)
Their loves. And each had twined a bough to shield
Her lovely face; and the green leaves did yield
The golden hair their shadow; while the two
Sweet colors mingled, both blown lightly through
With a soft wind for ever stirred and still'd.
After a little while one of them said,
(I heard her,) "Think! If, ere the next hour struck,
Each of our lovers should come here to-day,
Think you that we should fly or feel afraid?"
To whom the others answered, "From such luck
A girl would be a fool to run away."



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