Nascita di Venere

(Botticelli)

Venus, standing on the fairest of seashells,

Lands, nude, on the gentlest of shores,

Hiding naught of her body with her long hair

Save what flings our desires upon her.

A nymph, spreading a bright mantle, tries

To dress like an empress the goddess:

And two winds rushing, fair wingèd ephebes,

At thighs and arms to each other joined,

Of whom one is Zephyrus and the other Boreas,

Breathe divine love and sacred hate.

The face is calmly indifferent,

As awaiting the cult which will offer

To her all flora and all fauna from this birth,

And share a disturbing innocence.

Paul Verlaine