GRAVELY to frown: to strut with solemn gait: With sad and serious smile each one to greet: All words to weigh and careful answers mete, As 'Messer, si,' or 'Messer, no,' sedate: Oft times an 'e cosi' t'interpolate, And with 'your servant' candour counterfeit, And (as if sharing the victorious feat) Of Florence and of Naples news relate: Call each man 'Signor,' haste your hand to kiss, And, as the Roman courtier's custom is, Hide poverty, and seeming wealth advance: Such in this Court are all the virtues had, Whence, often sick, ill-mounted and ill-clad, Beardless and penniless, returns to France. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARTHA WASHINGTON by SIDNEY LANIER PICKING AND CHOOSING by MARIANNE MOORE GARDEN WIRELESS by CARL SANDBURG SONNET (6) by GEORGE SANTAYANA MAKING THE BED by KAREN SWENSON THE JOY OF WRITING by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA HE GOADS HIMSELF by LOUIS UNTERMEYER |