1. ۱Vanity, saith the preacher, vanity!
2. ۲Draw round my bed: is Anselm keeping back?
3. ۳Nephews--sons mine ... ah God, I know not! Well,
4. ۴She, men would have to be your mother once,
5. ۵Old Gandolf envied me, so fair she was!
6. ۶What's done is done, and she is dead beside,
7. ۷Dead long ago, and I am Bishop since.
8. ۸And as she died so must we die ourselves,
9. ۹And thence ye may perceive the world's a dream.
10. ۱۰Life, how and what is it? As here I lie
11. ۱۱In this state-chamber, dying by degrees,
12. ۱۲Hours and long hours in the dead night, I ask
13. ۱۳"Do I live, am I dead?" Peace, peace seems all.
14. ۱۴Saint Praxed's ever was the church for peace;
15. ۱۵And so, about this tomb of mine. I fought
16. ۱۶With tooth and nail to save my niche, ye know:
17. ۱۷--Old Gandolf cozened me, despite my care;
18. ۱۸Shrewd was that snatch from out the corner South
19. ۱۹He graced his carrion with, God curse the same!
20. ۲۰Yet still my niche is not so cramped but thence
21. ۲۱One sees the pulpit o' the epistle-side,
22. ۲۲And somewhat of the choir, those silent seats,
23. ۲۳And up into the aery dome where live
24. ۲۴The angels, and a sunbeam's sure to lurk:
25. ۲۵And I shall fill my slab of basalt there,
26. ۲۶And 'neath my tabernacle take my rest,
27. ۲۷With those nine columns round me, two and two,
28. ۲۸The odd one at my feet where Anselm stands:
29. ۲۹Peach-blossom marble all, the rare, the ripe
30. ۳۰As fresh-poured red wine of a mighty pulse,
31. ۳۱--Old Gandolf with his paltry onion-stone,
32. ۳۲Put me where I may look at him! True peach,
33. ۳۳Rosy and flawless: how I earned the prize!
34. ۳۴Draw close: that conflagration of my church
35. ۳۵--What then? So much was saved if aught were missed!
36. ۳۶My sons, ye would not be my death? Go dig
37. ۳۷The white-grape vineyard where the oil-press stood,
38. ۳۸Drop water gently till the surface sink,
39. ۳۹And if ye find... Ah God, I know not, I!...
40. ۴۰Bedded in store of rotten fig-leaves soft,
41. ۴۱And corded up in a tight olive-frail,
42. ۴۲Some lump, ah God, oflapis lazuli_,
43. ۴۳Big as a Jew's head cut off at the nape,
44. ۴۴Blue as a vein o'er the Madonna's ......
45. ۴۵Sons, all have I bequeathed you, villas, all,
46. ۴۶That brave Frascati villa, with its bath,
47. ۴۷So, let the blue lump poise between my knees,
48. ۴۸Like God the Father's globe on both his hands
49. ۴۹Ye worship in the Jesu Church, so ...,
50. ۵۰For Gandolf shall not choose but see and burst!
51. ۵۱Swift as a weaver's shuttle fleet our years:
52. ۵۲Man goeth to the grave, and where is he?
53. ۵۳Did I say, basalt for my slab, sons? Black--
54. ۵۴'Twas ever antique-black I meant! How else
55. ۵۵Shall ye contrast my frieze to come beneath?
56. ۵۶The bas-relief in bronze ye promised me,
57. ۵۷Those Pans and Nymphs ye wot of, and perchance
58. ۵۸Some tripod, thyrsus, with a vase or so,
59. ۵۹The Saviour at his sermon on the mount,
60. ۶۰Saint Praxed in a glory, and one Pan
61. ۶۱Ready to twitch the Nymph's last garment off,
62. ۶۲And Moses with the tables ... but I know
63. ۶۳Ye mark me not! What do they whisper thee,
64. ۶۴Child of my bowels, Anselm? Ah, ye hope
65. ۶۵To revel down my villas while I gasp
66. ۶۶Bricked o'er with beggar's mouldy travertine
67. ۶۷Which Gandolf from his tomb-top chuckles at!
68. ۶۸Nay, boys, ye love me--all of jasper, then!
69. ۶۹'Tis jasper ye stand pledged to, lest I grieve
70. ۷۰My bath must needs be left behind, alas!
71. ۷۱One block, pure green as a pistachio-nut,
72. ۷۲There's plenty jasper somewhere in the world--
73. ۷۳And have I not Saint Praxed's ear to pray
74. ۷۴Horses for ye, and brown Greek manuscripts,
75. ۷۵And mistresses with great smooth marbly limbs?
76. ۷۶--That's if ye carve my epitaph aright,
77. ۷۷Choice Latin, picked phrase, Tully's every word,
78. ۷۸No gaudy ware like Gandolf's second line--
79. ۷۹Tully, my masters? Ulpian serves his need!
80. ۸۰And then how I shall lie thro' centuries,
81. ۸۱And hear the blessed mutter of the mass,
82. ۸۲And see God made and eaten all day long,
83. ۸۳And feel the steady candle-flame, and taste
84. ۸۴Good strong thick stupefying incense-smoke!
85. ۸۵For as I lie here, hours of the dead night,
86. ۸۶Dying in state and by such slow degrees,
87. ۸۷I fold my arms as if they clasped a crook,
88. ۸۸And stretch my feet forth straight as stone can point,
89. ۸۹And let the bedclothes, for a mortcloth, drop
90. ۹۰Into great laps and folds of sculptor's-work:
91. ۹۱And as yon tapers dwindle, and strange thoughts
92. ۹۲Grow, with a certain humming in my ears,
93. ۹۳About the life before I lived this life,
94. ۹۴And this life too, popes, cardinals, and priests,
95. ۹۵Saint Praxed at his sermon on the mount,
96. ۹۶Your tall pale mother with her talking eyes,
97. ۹۷And new-found agate urns as fresh as day,
98. ۹۸And marble's language, Latin pure, discreet,
99. ۹۹--Aha, ELUCESCEBAT quoth our friend?
100. ۱۰۰No Tully, said I, Ulpian at the best!
101. ۱۰۱Evil and brief hath been my pilgrimage.
102. ۱۰۲Alllapis_, all, sons! Else I give the Pope
103. ۱۰۳My villas! Will ye ever eat my heart?
104. ۱۰۴Ever your eyes were as a lizard's quick,
105. ۱۰۵They glitter like your mother's for my soul.
106. ۱۰۶Or ye would heighten my impoverished frieze,
107. ۱۰۷Piece out its starved design, and fill my vase
108. ۱۰۸With grapes, and add a visor and a Term,
109. ۱۰۹And to the tripod ye would tie a lynx
110. ۱۱۰That in his struggle throws the thyrsus down,
111. ۱۱۱To comfort me on my entablature
112. ۱۱۲Whereon I am to lie till I must ask
113. ۱۱۳"Do I live, am I dead?" There, leave me, there!
114. ۱۱۴For ye have stabbed me with ingratitude
115. ۱۱۵To death--ye wish it--God, ye wish it! stone--
116. ۱۱۶Gritstone, a-crumble! clammy squares which sweat
117. ۱۱۷As if the corpse they keep were oozing through--
118. ۱۱۸And no morelapis_ to delight the world!
119. ۱۱۹Well, go! I bless ye. Fewer tapers there,
120. ۱۲۰But in a row: and, going, turn your backs
121. ۱۲۱--Ay, like departing altar-ministrants,
122. ۱۲۲And leave me in my church, the church for peace,
123. ۱۲۳That I may watch, at leisure if he leers--
124. ۱۲۴Old Gandolf--at me, from his onion-stone,
125. ۱۲۵As still he envied me, so fair she was!