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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LUCREZIA BORGIA (1480-1519), by ELIZABETH MAYER
First Line: When she was painted as sienna'a saint
Last Line: Why should she be assigned an evil haze?
Subject(s): Borgia, Lucrezia [lucretia] (1480-1519)
First Line: When she was painted as sienna'a saint
Last Line: Why should she be assigned an evil haze?
Subject(s): Borgia, Lucrezia [lucretia] (1480-1519)
(At the advanced age of 22 she acquired a good husband and an excellent character.)
When she was painted as Sienna's saint
What was there in her soft perplexity
To indicate the future poisonous taint
Thrust on her with a vile dexterity?
She walked as in a trance through grime and dust,
To cry at thirteen in her forced consent,
"I would have rather eaten straw and dust
Than to have known what this espousal meant!"
Has it no interest that she bravely waged
Combat to plague and famine? That she brought
Succour to Jews when even the name enraged?
Built hospitals before such gifts were sought?
When years atoned discarded yesterdays
Why should she be assigned an evil haze?
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