1. ۱But do not let us quarrel any more,
2. ۲No, my Lucrezia! bear with me for once:
3. ۳Sit down and all shall happen as you wish.
4. ۴You turn your face, but does it bring your heart?
5. ۵I'll work then for your friend's friend, never fear.
6. ۶Treat his own subject after his own way,
7. ۷Fix his own time, accept too his own price,
8. ۸And shut the money into this small hand
9. ۹When next it takes mine. Will it? tenderly?
10. ۱۰Oh, I'll content him,--but to-morrow, Love!
11. ۱۱I often am much wearier than you think,
12. ۱۲This evening more than usual: and it seems
13. ۱۳As if--forgive now--should you let me sit
14. ۱۴Here by the window, with your hand in mine,
15. ۱۵And look a half-hour forth on Fiesole,
16. ۱۶Both of one mind, as married people use,
17. ۱۷Quietly, quietly the evening through,
18. ۱۸I might get up to-morrow to my work
19. ۱۹Cheerful and fresh as ever. Let us try.
20. ۲۰To-morrow, how you shall be glad for this!
21. ۲۱Your soft hand is a woman of itself,
22. ۲۲And mine the man's bared ... she curls inside.
23. ۲۳Don't count the time lost, neither; you must serve
24. ۲۴For each of the five pictures we require:
25. ۲۵It saves a model. So! keep looking so--
26. ۲۶My serpentining beauty, rounds on rounds!
27. ۲۷--How could you ever prick those perfect ears,
28. ۲۸Even to put the pearl there! oh, so sweet--
29. ۲۹My face, my moon, my everybody's moon.
30. ۳۰Which everybody looks on and calls his,
31. ۳۱And, I suppose, is looked on by in turn,
32. ۳۲While she looks--no one's: very dear, no less.
33. ۳۳You smile? why, there's my picture ready made,
34. ۳۴There's what we painters call our harmony!
35. ۳۵A common grayness silvers everything,--
36. ۳۶All in a twilight, you and I alike
37. ۳۷--You, at the point of your first pride in me
38. ۳۸(That's gone, you know)--but I, at every point;
39. ۳۹My youth, my hope, my art, being all toned down
40. ۴۰To yonder sober pleasant Fiesole.
41. ۴۱There's the bell clinking from the chapel-top;
42. ۴۲That length of convent-wall across the way
43. ۴۳Holds the trees safer, huddled more inside;
44. ۴۴The last monk leaves the garden; days decrease,
45. ۴۵And autumn grows, autumn in everything.
46. ۴۶Eh? the whole seems to fall into a shape,
47. ۴۷As if I saw alike my work and self
48. ۴۸And all that I was born to be and do,
49. ۴۹A twilight-piece. Love, we are in God's hand.
50. ۵۰How strange now, looks the life he makes us lead;
51. ۵۱So free we seem, so fettered fast we are!
52. ۵۲I feel he laid the fetter: let it lie!
53. ۵۳This chamber for example--turn your head--
54. ۵۴All that's behind us! You don't understand
55. ۵۵Nor care to understand about my art,
56. ۵۶But you can hear at least when people speak:
57. ۵۷And that cartoon, the second from the door
58. ۵۸--It is the thing, Love! so such things should be--
59. ۵۹Behold Madonna!--I am bold to say.
60. ۶۰I can do with my pencil what I know,
61. ۶۱What I see, what at bottom of my heart
62. ۶۲I wish for, if I ever wish so deep--
63. ۶۳Do easily, too--when I say, perfectly,
64. ۶۴I do not boast, perhaps: yourself are judge,
65. ۶۵Who listened to the Legate's talk last week;
66. ۶۶And just as much they used to say in France.
67. ۶۷At any rate 'tis easy, all of it!
68. ۶۸No sketches first, no studies, that's long past:
69. ۶۹I do what many dream of, all their lives,
70. ۷۰--Dream? strive to do, and agonize to do,
71. ۷۱And fail in doing. I could count twenty such
72. ۷۲On twice your fingers, and not leave this town,
73. ۷۳Who strive--you don't know how the others strive
74. ۷۴To paint a little thing like that you smeared
75. ۷۵Carelessly passing with your robes afloat,--
76. ۷۶Yet do much less, so much less. Someone says,
77. ۷۷(I know his name, no matter)--so much less!
78. ۷۸Well, less is more, Lucrezia: I am judged.
79. ۷۹There burns a truer light of God in them,
80. ۸۰In their vexed beating stuffed and stopped-up brain,
81. ۸۱Heart, or whate'er else, than goes on to prompt
82. ۸۲This low-pulsed forthright craftsman's hand of mine.
83. ۸۳Their works drop groundward, but themselves, I know,
84. ۸۴Reach many a time a heaven that's shut to me,
85. ۸۵Enter and take their place there sure enough,
86. ۸۶Tho' they come back and cannot tell the world.
87. ۸۷My works are nearer heaven, but I sit here.
88. ۸۸The sudden blood of these men! at a word--
89. ۸۹Praise them, it boils, or blame them, it boils too.
90. ۹۰I, painting from myself and to myself,
91. ۹۱Know what I do, am unmoved by men's blame
92. ۹۲Or their praise either. Somebody remarks
93. ۹۳Morello's outline there is wrongly traced,
94. ۹۴His hue mistaken; what of that? or else,
95. ۹۵Rightly traced and well ordered; what of that?
96. ۹۶Speak as they please, what does the mountain care?
97. ۹۷Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
98. ۹۸Or what's a heaven for? All is silver-gray,
99. ۹۹Placid and perfect with my art: the worse!
100. ۱۰۰I know both what I want and what might gain,
101. ۱۰۱And yet how profitless to know, to sigh
102. ۱۰۲"Had I been two, another and myself,
103. ۱۰۳Our head would have o'erlooked the world!" No doubt.
104. ۱۰۴
105. ۱۰۵Yonder's a work now, of that famous youth
106. ۱۰۶The Urbinate who died five years ago.
107. ۱۰۷('Tis copied, George Vasari sent it me.)
108. ۱۰۸Well, I can fancy how he did it all,
109. ۱۰۹Pouring his soul, with kings and popes to see,
110. ۱۱۰Reaching, that heaven might so replenish him,
111. ۱۱۱Above and thro' his art--for it gives way;
112. ۱۱۲That arm is wrongly put--and there again--
113. ۱۱۳A fault to pardon in the drawing's lines,
114. ۱۱۴Its body, so to speak: its soul is right,
115. ۱۱۵He means right--that, a child may understand.
116. ۱۱۶Still, what an arm! and I could alter it:
117. ۱۱۷But all the play, the insight and the stretch--
118. ۱۱۸Out of me, out of me! And wherefore out?
119. ۱۱۹Had you enjoined them on me, given me soul,
120. ۱۲۰We might have risen to Rafael, I and you!
121. ۱۲۱Nay, Love, you did give all I asked, I think--
122. ۱۲۲More than I merit, yes, by many times.
123. ۱۲۳But had you--oh, with the same perfect brow,
124. ۱۲۴And perfect eyes, and more than perfect mouth,
125. ۱۲۵And the low voice my soul hears, as a bird
126. ۱۲۶The fowler's pipe, and follows to the snare--
127. ۱۲۷Had you, with these the same, but brought a mind!
128. ۱۲۸Some women do so. Had the mouth there urged
129. ۱۲۹"God and the glory! never care for gain.
130. ۱۳۰
131. ۱۳۱The present by the future, what is that?
132. ۱۳۲Live for fame, side by side with Agnolo!
133. ۱۳۳Rafael is waiting: up to God, all three!"
134. ۱۳۴I might have done it for you. So it seems:
135. ۱۳۵Perhaps not. All is as God over-rules.
136. ۱۳۶Beside, incentives come from the soul's self;
137. ۱۳۷The rest avail not. Why do I need you?
138. ۱۳۸What wife had Rafael, or has Agnolo?
139. ۱۳۹In this world, who can do a thing, will not;
140. ۱۴۰And who would do it, cannot, I perceive:
141. ۱۴۱Yet the will's somewhat--somewhat, too, the power--
142. ۱۴۲And thus we half-men struggle. At the end,
143. ۱۴۳God, I conclude, compensates, punishes.
144. ۱۴۴'Tis safer for me, if the award be strict,
145. ۱۴۵That I am something underrated here,
146. ۱۴۶Poor this long while, despised, to speak the truth.
147. ۱۴۷I dared not, do you know, leave home all day,
148. ۱۴۸For fear of chancing on the Paris lords.
149. ۱۴۹The best is when they pass and look aside;
150. ۱۵۰But they speak sometimes; I must bear it all.
151. ۱۵۱Well may they speak. That Francis, that first time,
152. ۱۵۲And that long festal year at Fontainebleau!
153. ۱۵۳I surely then could sometimes leave the ground,
154. ۱۵۴Put on the glory, Rafael's daily wear,
155. ۱۵۵In that humane great monarch's golden look,--
156. ۱۵۶One finger in his beard or twisted curl
157. ۱۵۷Over his mouth's good mark that made the smile.
158. ۱۵۸One arm, about my shoulder, round my neck,
159. ۱۵۹The jingle of his gold chain in my ear,
160. ۱۶۰I painting proudly with his breath on me,
161. ۱۶۱All his court round him, seeing with his eyes.
162. ۱۶۲Such frank French eyes, and such a fire of souls
163. ۱۶۳Profuse, my hand kept plying by those hearts,--
164. ۱۶۴And, best of all, this, this, this face beyond,
165. ۱۶۵This in the background, waiting on my work,
166. ۱۶۶To crown the issue with a last reward!
167. ۱۶۷A good tune, was it not, my kingly days?
168. ۱۶۸And had you not grown restless ... but I know--
169. ۱۶۹'Tis done and past; 'twas right, my instinct said;
170. ۱۷۰Too live the life grew, golden and not gray:
171. ۱۷۱And I'm the weak-eyed bat no sun should tempt
172. ۱۷۲Out of the grange whose four walls make his world,
173. ۱۷۳How could it end in any other way?
174. ۱۷۴You called me, and I came home to your heart,
175. ۱۷۵The triumph was--to reach and stay there; since
176. ۱۷۶I reached it ere the triumph, what is lost?
177. ۱۷۷Let my hands frame your face in your hair's gold,
178. ۱۷۸You beautiful Lucrezia that are mine!
179. ۱۷۹"Rafael did this, Andrea painted that;
180. ۱۸۰The Roman's is the better when you pray,
181. ۱۸۱But still the other's Virgin was his wife--"
182. ۱۸۲Men will excuse me. I am glad to judge
183. ۱۸۳Both pictures in your presence; clearer grows
184. ۱۸۴My better fortune, I resolve to think.
185. ۱۸۵For, do you know, Lucrezia, as God lives,
186. ۱۸۶Said one day Agnolo, his very self,
187. ۱۸۷To Rafael... I have known it all these years...
188. ۱۸۸(When the young man was flaming out his thoughts
189. ۱۸۹Upon a palace-wall for Rome to see,
190. ۱۹۰Too lifted up in heart because of it)
191. ۱۹۱"Friend, there's a certain sorry little scrub
192. ۱۹۲Goes up and down our Florence, none cares how,
193. ۱۹۳Who, were he set to plan and execute
194. ۱۹۴As you are, pricked on by your popes and kings,
195. ۱۹۵Would bring the sweat into that brow of yours!"
196. ۱۹۶To Rafael's!--And indeed the arm is wrong.
197. ۱۹۷I hardly dare ... yet, only you to see,
198. ۱۹۸Give the chalk here--quick, thus the line should go!
199. ۱۹۹Ay, but the soul! he's Rafael! rub it out!
200. ۲۰۰Still, all I care for, if he spoke the truth,
201. ۲۰۱(What he? why, who but Michel Agnolo?
202. ۲۰۲Do you forget already words like those?)
203. ۲۰۳If really there was such a chance so lost,--
204. ۲۰۴Is, whether you're--not grateful--but more pleased.
205. ۲۰۵Well, let me think so. And you smile indeed!
206. ۲۰۶
207. ۲۰۷This hour has been an hour! Another smile?
208. ۲۰۸If you would sit thus by me every night
209. ۲۰۹I should work better, do you comprehend?
210. ۲۱۰I mean that I should earn more, give you more.
211. ۲۱۱See, it is settled dusk now; there's a star;
212. ۲۱۲Morello's gone, the watch-lights show the wall,
213. ۲۱۳The cue-owls speak the name we call them by.
214. ۲۱۴Come from the window, Love,--come in, at last,
215. ۲۱۵Inside the melancholy little house
216. ۲۱۶We built to be so ... with. God is just.
217. ۲۱۷King Francis may forgive me: oft at nights
218. ۲۱۸When I look up from painting, eyes tired out,
219. ۲۱۹The walls become illumined, brick from brick
220. ۲۲۰Distinct, instead of mortar, fierce, bright gold,
221. ۲۲۱That gold of his I did cement them with!
222. ۲۲۲Let us but love each other. Must you go?
223. ۲۲۳That Cousin here again? he waits outside?
224. ۲۲۴Must see you--you, and not with me? Those loans?
225. ۲۲۵More gaming debts to pay? you smiled for that?
226. ۲۲۶Well, let smiles buy me! have you more to spend?
227. ۲۲۷While hand and eye and something of a heart
228. ۲۲۸Are left me, work's my ware, and what's it worth?
229. ۲۲۹I'll pay my fancy. Only let me sit
230. ۲۳۰The gray remainder of the evening out,
231. ۲۳۱Idle, you call it, and muse perfectly
232. ۲۳۲How I could paint, were I but back in France,
233. ۲۳۳One picture, just one more--the Virgin's face,
234. ۲۳۴Not yours this time! I want you at my side
235. ۲۳۵To hear them--that is, Michel Agnolo--
236. ۲۳۶Judge all I do and tell you of its worth.
237. ۲۳۷Will you? To-morrow, satisfy your friend.
238. ۲۳۸I take the subjects for his corridor,
239. ۲۳۹Finish the portrait out of hand--there, there,
240. ۲۴۰And throw him in another thing or two
241. ۲۴۱If he demurs; the whole should prove enough
242. ۲۴۲To pay for this same Cousin's freak. Beside,
243. ۲۴۳What's better and what's all I care about,
244. ۲۴۴Get you the thirteen scudi for the ruff!
245. ۲۴۵Love, does that please you? Ah, but what does he,
246. ۲۴۶The Cousin! what does he to please you more?
247. ۲۴۷
248. ۲۴۸I am grown peaceful as old age to-night.
249. ۲۴۹I regret little, I would change still less.
250. ۲۵۰Since there my past life lies, why alter it?
251. ۲۵۱The very wrong to Francis!--it is true
252. ۲۵۲I took his coin, was tempted and complied,
253. ۲۵۳And built this house and sinned, and all is said
254. ۲۵۴My father and my mother died of want.
255. ۲۵۵Well, had I riches of my own? you see
256. ۲۵۶How one gets rich! Let each one bear his lot.
257. ۲۵۷They were born poor, lived poor, and poor they died:
258. ۲۵۸And I have laboured somewhat in my time
259. ۲۵۹And not been paid profusely. Some good son
260. ۲۶۰Paint my two hundred pictures--let him try!
261. ۲۶۱No doubt, there's something strikes a balance. Yes,
262. ۲۶۲You love me quite enough, it seems to-night.
263. ۲۶۳This must suffice me here. What would one have?
264. ۲۶۴In heaven, perhaps, new chances, one more chance--
265. ۲۶۵Four great walls in the New Jerusalem,
266. ۲۶۶Meted on each side by the angel's reed,
267. ۲۶۷For Leonard, Rafael, Agnolo, and me
268. ۲۶۸To cover--the three first without a wife,
269. ۲۶۹While I have mine! So--still they overcome
270. ۲۷۰Because there's still Lucrezia,--as I choose.
271. ۲۷۱
272. ۲۷۲ Again the Cousin's whistle! Go, my Love.