Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GLIMPSES OF ITALY: 4. FRA ANGELICO, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GLIMPSES OF ITALY: 4. FRA ANGELICO, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They called him angel brother, for his smile
Last Line: Floats like a presence his so pure renown.
Subject(s): Angels; Art & Artists; Florence, Italy; Jesus Christ; Soul


THEY called him angel brother, for his smile
Was amiable like angels, and he loved
To paint them ever on the convent walls;
Even in his very cell he made them sing
And praise and weep Lord Jesus and the Maid,
While all his fellow monks looked raptly on.
No wage he took for work, and ne'er began
To paint an angel till he breathed a prayer;
And by that prayer and from that dreaming hand
Came pictures tremulous with worshiping,
Till all beholding them are fain to say:
"Angelico, the artist, loved what things
Are high and holy, and his tender soul
Shines through his colors and his saintly forms,
And shows to men a half-forgotten heaven."

The flower-like name of Florence sounds twice fair
Because he worked within her walls of fame;
And on the heights of far Fiesole
Floats like a Presence his so pure renown.





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