And so, henceforth, I put the shutters up;
Auroras must not come to spoil my dark.’
He smiled so feebly, with an empty hand
Stretched sideway from me,—as indeed he looked
To any one but me to give him help,—
And, while the moon came suddenly out full,
The double rose of our Italian moons,
Sufficient, plainly, for the heaven and earth,
(The stars, struck dumb and washed away in dews
Of golden glory, and the mountains steeped
In divine languor) he, the man, appeared
So pale and patient, like the marble man
A sculptor puts his personal sadness in
To join his grandeur of ideal thought,—
As if his mallet struck me from my height
Of passionate indignation, I who had risen
Pale,—doubting, paused, . . . . Was Romney mad indeed?
Had all this wrong of heart made sick the brain?
Then quiet, with a sort of tremulous pride,
‘Go, cousin,’ I said coldly. ‘A farewell
Was sooner spoken ’twixt a pair of friends
In those old days, than seems to suit you now:
And if, since then, I’ve writ a book or two,
I’m somewhat dull still in the manly art
Of phrase and metaphrase. Why, any man
Can carve a score of white Loves out of snow,
As Buonarroti down in Florence there,
And set them on the wall in some safe shade,
