 | Imaginary Sonnets |  |
33
LUCA SIGNORELLI TO HIS SON.
(1500.)
They brought thy body back to me quite dead,
Just as thou hadst been stricken in the brawl.
I let no tear, I let no curses fall,
But signed to them to lay thee on the bed;
Just as thou hadst been stricken in the brawl.
I let no tear, I let no curses fall,
But signed to them to lay thee on the bed;
Then, with clenched teeth, I stripped thy clothes soaked red;
And taking up my pencil at God's call,
All through the night I drew thy muscles all,
And writhed at every beauty of thy head;
And taking up my pencil at God's call,
All through the night I drew thy muscles all,
And writhed at every beauty of thy head;
For I required the glory of thy limbs
To lend it to archangel and to saint,
And of thy brow, for brows with halo rims;
To lend it to archangel and to saint,
And of thy brow, for brows with halo rims;
And thou shalt stand, in groups which I will paint
Upon God's walls, till, like procession hymns
Lost in the distance, ages make them faint.
Upon God's walls, till, like procession hymns
Lost in the distance, ages make them faint.
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