Sonnets of the Wingless Hours By Eugene Lee-Hamilton |
 | I. |
 | II. |
|
ON MANTEGNA'S DRAWING OF JUDITH.
I. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
 | Sonnets of the Wingless Hours |  |
41
ON MANTEGNA'S DRAWING OF JUDITH.
I.
What stony, bloodless Judith hast thou made,
Mantegna—draped in many a stony fold?
What walking sleeper whose benumb'd hands hold
A stony head and an unbloody blade?
Mantegna—draped in many a stony fold?
What walking sleeper whose benumb'd hands hold
A stony head and an unbloody blade?
In thine own savage days, wast thou afraid
To paint such Judiths as thou mightst behold
In open street, and paint the heads that rolled
Beneath the axe, and that each square displayed?
To paint such Judiths as thou mightst behold
In open street, and paint the heads that rolled
Beneath the axe, and that each square displayed?
No, no; not such was Judith, on the night
When, in the silent camp, she watched alone,
Like some dumb tigress, in the tent's dim light
When, in the silent camp, she watched alone,
Like some dumb tigress, in the tent's dim light
Her sleeping prey; nor when, her dark deed done,
She seized the head, and feasted thought and sight
Upon a ball that was no ball of stone.
She seized the head, and feasted thought and sight
Upon a ball that was no ball of stone.
| Sonnets of the Wingless Hours | |