* A paraphrase of Petrarca, ‘Quando fra l’altre donne . . .’     When among creatures fair of countenance    Love comes enformed in such proud character,    So far…

   I have sought Happiness, but it has been    A lovely rainbow, baffling all pursuit,    And tasted Pleasure, but it was a fruit    More fair of outward hue than…

    A splendor, flamelike, born to be pursued,    With palms extent for amorous charity    And eyes incensed with love for all they see,    A wonder more to be adored…

    Oh, love of woman, you are known to be    A passion sent to plague the hearts of men;    For every one you bring felicity    Bringing rebuffs and wretchedness…

    Oft as by chance, a little while apart    The pall of empty, loveless hours withdrawn,    Sweet Beauty, opening on the impoverished heart,    Beams like the jewel on the…

   There have been times when I could storm and plead,    But you shall never hear me supplicate.    These long months that have magnified my need    Have made my…

    To me, a pilgrim on that journey bound    Whose stations Beauty’s bright examples are,    As of a silken city famed afar    Over the sands for wealth and holy…

   Oh, you are more desirable to me    Than all I staked in an impulsive hour,    Making my youth the sport of chance, to be    Blighted or torn in…

   Give me the treble of thy horns and hoofs,    The ponderous undertones of ‘bus and tram,    A garret and a glimpse across the roofs    Of clouds blown eastward…

    Seeing you have not come with me, nor spent    This day’s suggestive beauty as we ought,    I have gone forth alone and been content    To make you mistress…