And, past the quays, Maria Novella’s Place,
In which the mystic obelisks stand up
Triangular, pyramidal, each based
On a single trine of brazen tortoises,
To guard that fair church, Buonarroti’s Bride,
That stares out from her large blind dial-eyes,
Her quadrant and armillary dials, black
With rhythms of many suns and moons, in vain
Enquiry for so rich a soul as his,—
Methinks I have plunged, I see it all so clear . . .
And, oh my heart . . .the sea-king!
In my ears
The sound of waters. There he stood, my king!
I felt him, rather than beheld him. Up
I rose, as if he were my king indeed,
And then sate down, in trouble at myself,
And struggling for my woman’s empery.
’Tis pitiful; but women are so made:
We’ll die for you, perhaps,—’tis probable:
But we’ll not spare you an inch of our full height:
We’ll have our whole just stature,—five feet four,
Though laid out in our coffins: pitiful!
—‘You, Romney!——Lady Waldemar is here?’
He answered in a voice which was not his,
‘I have her letter; you shall read it soon:
But first, I must be heard a little, I,
Who have waited long and travelled far for that,
