| He. Opinion is not worth a rush; |
| In this altar-piece the knight, |
| Who grips his long spear so to push |
| That
dragon through the fading light, |
| Loved the lady; and it’s plain |
| The half-dead dragon was her thought, |
| That
every morning rose again |
| And dug its claws and shrieked and fought. |
| Could the impossible come
to pass |
| She would have time to turn her eyes, |
| Her lover thought, upon the glass |
| And on the instant
would grow wise. |
|
|
|
|
| She. You mean they argued. |
|
|
|
|
| He. Put it so; |
| But bear in mind your lover’s wage |
| Is
what your looking-glass can show, |
| And that he will turn green with rage |
| At all that is not pictured there. |
|
|
|
|
| She. May I not put myself to college? |
|
|
|
|
| He. Go pluck Athena by the hair; |
| For what mere book can grant
a knowledge |
| With an impassioned gravity |
| Appropriate to that beating breast, |
| That vigorous thigh, that
dreaming eye? |
| And may the devil take the rest. |
|
|
|
|
| She. And must no beautiful woman be |
| Learned like
a man? |
|
|
|
|
| He. Paul Veronese |
| And all his sacred company |
| Imagined bodies all their days |
| By the lagoon
you love so much, |
| For proud, soft, ceremonious proof |
| That all must come to sight and touch; |
| While
Michael Angelo’s Sistine roof, |
| His ‘Morning’ and his ‘Night’ disclose |
| How sinew that has been pulled
tight, |
| Or it may be loosened in repose, |
| Can rule by supernatural right |
| Yet be but sinew. |
|
|
|
|
| She. I have
heard said |
| There is great danger in the body. |
|
|
|
|
| He. Did God in portioning wine and bread |
| Give man His
thought or His mere body? |
|
|
|
|
| She. My wretched dragon is perplexed. |
|
|
|
|
| He. I have principles to prove me
right. |
| It follows from this Latin text |
| That blest souls are not composite, |
| And that all beautiful women may |
| Live
in uncomposite blessedness, |
| And lead us to the like—if they |
| Will banish every thought, unless |
| The
lineaments that please their view |
| When the long looking-glass is full, |
| Even from the foot-sole think it too. |
|
|
|
|
| She. They say such different things at school. |
