Page:Aurora Leigh a Poem.djvu/234

At least I am a poet in being poor;
Thank God. I wonder if the manuscript
Of my long poem, it ’twere sold outright,
Would fetch enough to buy me shoes, to go
A-foot, (thrown in, the necessary patch
For the other side the Alps)? it cannot be:
I fear that I must sell this residue
Of my father’s books; although the Elzevirs
Have fly-leaves over-written by his hand,
In faded notes as thick and fine and brown
as cobwebs on a tawny monument
Of the old Greeks—conferenda hoec cum his—
Corruptè citat—lege potiùs,
And so on, in the scholar’s regal way
Of giving judgment on the parts of speech,
As if he sate on all twelve thrones up-piled,
Arraigning Israel. Ay, but books and notes
Must go together. And this Proclus too,
In quaintly dear contracted Grecian types,
Fantastically crumpled, like his thoughts
Which would not seem too plain; you go round twice
For one step forward, then you take it back
Because you’re somewhat giddy! there’s the rule
For Proclus. Ah, I stained this middle leaf
With pressing in’t my Florentine iris-bell,
Long stalk and all; my father chided me
For that stain of blue blood,—I recollect
The peevish turn his voice took,—‘Silly girls,
Who plant their flowers in our philosophy
To make it fine, and only spoil the book!