Long Arno Poems

Now we along one of hard rims are brought;
And a thin spray on the  brook is fixed, 
So shield to rims and water is begot.

As Flemings, Cadsand and Bruges bewixt,
Fearing the high waves pouncing...

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And after had passed the two enraged by
On which I had before pointed my sight,
I turned to others evil-born my eye.

I saw one, who the form of lute have might,
If he the groin in full...

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Uplifted his mouth from wild and fierce meal
That sinner, it furbishing at the hair
Of head on back of which he had to steal.

Then started: “You want I renew and share
Desperate pain which is pressing my...

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(Continues after part 1)

Stopped to talk, and then “Since his voice now dries”,
Told poet to me, “your time don’t lose, be fast;
But speak, and ask him, if like that more arise”.

And I to him: “Let...

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I stopped there, and saw two showing high rate
Of their will, on their face, to join with me;
But were hampered by narrow street and weight.

When reached us, with their eyes awry to see
Then looked at...

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It was the time when art was king,
Of artists whose praises  we all sing.
Great minds there were in the Renaissance,
Through eons , unsurpassed, with little advance.

Greatness was embodied in the works of art,
In Lorenzo's...

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The sacred lily of antiquity;
                      vital, that centuries have not defied.
   ...

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Enea, at the Scottish Court

The critics claim that this is far the worst
of all the frescoes.  Enea the star?  No
inkling here.  Can that be James the First?

And that’s the Clyde?  It...

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Robert browning and Me (2)

Where was I with that book on Artemisia?
No Internet or Amazon back then,
So I got busy trudging round – then busier.
No joy. “American?  We’ll call you when …”
“Import it from...

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"Just take this chalk," (so went his talk, 
to servants sent before): 
"And do not balk. When you uncork 
good liquor, mark the door." 

This way, the churchman planned to pass, 
when pausing for a...

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If you've ever seen Ca' Rezzonico 
seeming quite to float 
upon the Grand Canal 
as you bob in a boat, 

or if you've ever eavesdropped 
in some Trastevere alley 
some golden afternoon 
on some tenor's...

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I longed for more time
to lay cornerstones, 
but life had started 
detaching my soles


I wanted more daylight
to see a Galaxy of beauty
that rested, 
within one finger of breath


I desired of many things


to walk the Ponte...

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Oh Michelangelo the high master.
Your marble masterpiece.
In sweet Florence resides.
Beneath the great red dome thou liest.

See how the Son of the most High.
Died for all of us.
And fallen, rested in the caring arms.
Of the Magdalene...

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Ponte Vecchio

Gift of history, an ancient relic
Clutter of the curious, devotional caravans
Different tongues, riot of voices
Spectrum of colors, collage of faces
 
Tramping hoards where horses galloped
Swarming the breadth and treading the length 
For the glitter...

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Arno Vale
Bristol’s Necropolis
City of the Dead
Where the dead and living
In the daytime co-exist.

The path leads full circle
Around the tomb stones, chapels and trees
Tombstone white and bright in the sun
The trees decorated, woollen colours

Booted families trudge...

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Palazzo Strozzi near the Duomo is empty now,
The tourists having sought more grand amusements;
Perpetual restlessness the most common souvenir
They’ll be bringing home from vacation.

Giotto’s Campanile seemed manly from the outside,
Its shoulders squared against the distant...

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