LINES
SUGGESTED BY A PICTURE
OF TWO FEMALES BY
LEONARDO DA VINCI
XXXIV
The lady Blanche, regardless of all her lovers’ fears,
To the Ursuline convent hastens, and long the abbess hears.
“O Blanche, my child, repent ye of the courtly life ye lead.”
Blanche looked on a rosebud, and little seem’d to heed.
She looked on the rosebud, she looked round and thought
On all her heart had whisper’d, and all the Nun had taught.
“I am worshipped by lovers, and brightly shines my fame,
All Christendom resoundeth the noble Blanche’s name.