Littell's Living Age/Volume 129/Issue 1661/The Face of my Mistress

by Frank Thomas Marzials

THE FACE OF MY MISTRESS,

WHICH LEONARDO DA VINCI SHALL DRAW FOR ME.

In poring o'er her face, which is not fair
To casual eyes as it is fair in mine,
I ponder oft what painter-hand divine
Had surest caught the soul of beauty there;

And for the task, in wayward fancy, dare
Evoke some sturdy truth-teller — Holbein
Or Dürer — or anon some Florentine,
Of grace more delicate and dainty-rare.

But most to thee, great master, most to thee,
O Leonardo, do I turn, whose gaze
Through swirl of change and time's slow-gathering haze
Pierced radiant, and who thus did'st strangely see
The high-soul'd cultured lady of our days.

Master, the face I love, draw it for me!

Frank T. Marzials

Examiner.