Ah, God! how blissfully those days went by!
You could not fill a golden cup more full
Of rubied wine than was my heart with joy.
Long mornings in his studio, there I sat
And heard his voice; or, when he did not speak,
I felt his presence like a rich perfume,
Fill all my thoughts.
I was his model. Hours and hours I posed
For him to paint his Cleopatra, fierce,
With her squared brows, and full Egyptian lips;