And you know well how great the longing has been,

Where every day my footfall should have lit

In the green shadow of Ferrara wall;

[51]

Or climbed among the images of the past—

The unperturbed and courtly images—

Evening and morning, the steep street of Urbino

To where the duchess and her people talked

The stately midnight through until they stood

In their great window looking at the dawn;

I might have had no friend that could not mix

Courtesy and passion into one like those

That saw the wicks grow yellow in the dawn;

I might have used the one substantial right

My trade allows: chosen my company,

And chosen what scenery had pleased me best.'

[52]

Thereon my phoenix answered in reproof,

'The drunkards, pilferers of public funds,

All the dishonest crowd I had driven away,

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