“Here’s one has chosen his part and knows his cue. (1440)
“I am done with, dead now; strike away, good friends!
“Are the three suits decided in a trice?
“Against me,—there’s no question! How does it go?
“Is the parentage of my wife demonstrated
“Infamous to her wish? Parades she now
“Loosed of the cincture that so irked the loin?
“Is the last penny extracted from my purse
“To mulct me for demanding the first pound
“Was promised in return for value paid?
“Has the priest, with nobody to court beside, (1450)
“Courted the Muse in exile, hitched my hap
“Into a rattling ballad-rhyme which, bawled
“At tavern-doors, wakes rapture everywhere,
“And helps cheap wine down throat this Christmas time,
“Beating the bagpipes? Any or all of these!
“As well, good friends, you cursed my palace here
“To its old cold stone face,—stuck your cap for crest
“Over the shield that’s extant in the Square,—
“Or spat on the statue’s cheek, the impatient world
“Sees cumber tomb-top in our family church: (1460)
“Let him creep under covert as I shall do,
“Half below-ground already indeed. Good-bye!
“My brothers are priests, and childless so; that’s well—
“And, thank God most for this, no child leave I—
“None after me to bear till his heart break
“The being a Franceschini and my son!”
“A babe, your veritable son and heir—
“Lawful,—’tis only eight months since your wife
“Left you,—so, son and heir, your babe was born (1470)
“Last Wednesday in the villa,—you see the cause
“For quitting Convent without beat of drum,
“Stealing a hurried march to this retreat
“That’s not so savage as the Sisterhood
“To slips and stumbles: Pietro’s heart is soft,
“Violante leans to pity’s side,—the pair
“Ushered you into life a bouncing boy:
“And he’s already hidden away and safe
“From any claim on him you mean to make—
“They need him for themselves,—don’t fear, they know (1480)
“The use o’ the bantling,—the nerve thus laid bare
“To nip at, new and nice, with finger-nail!”
What, all is only beginning not ending now?
The worm which wormed its way from skin through flesh
To the bone and there lay biting, did its best,
What, it goes on to scrape at the bone’s self,
Will wind to inmost marrow and madden me?
There’s to be yet my representative,
Another of the name shall keep displayed (1490)
The flag with the ordure on it, brandish still
The broken sword has served to stir a jakes?
Who will he be, how will you call the man?
A Franceschini,—when who cut my purse,
Filched my name, hemmed me round, hustled me hard
As rogues at a fair some fool they strip i’ the midst,
When these count gains, vaunt pillage presently:—
But a Caponsacchi, oh, be very sure!
When what demands its tribute of applause
Is the cunning and impudence o’ the pair of cheats, (1500)
The lies and lust o’ the mother, and the brave
Bold carriage of the priest, worthily crowned
By a witness to his feat i’ the following age,—
And how this three-fold cord could hook and fetch
And land leviathan that king of pride!
Or say, by some mad miracle of chance,
Is he indeed my flesh and blood, this babe?
Was it because fate forged a link at last
Betwixt my wife and me, and both alike
Found we had henceforth some one thing to love, (1510)
Was it when she could damn my soul indeed
She unlatched door, let all the devils o’ the dark
Dance in on me to cover her escape?
Why then, the surplusage of disgrace, the spilth
Over and above the measure of infamy,
Failing to take effect on my coarse flesh
Seasoned with scorn now, saturate with shame,—
Is saved to instil on and corrode the brow,
The baby-softness of my first-born child—
The child I had died to see though in a dream, (1520)
The child I was bid strike out for, beat the wave
And baffle the tide of troubles where I swam,
So I might touch shore, lay down life at last
At the feet so dim and distant and divine
Of the apparition, as ’twere Mary’s babe
Had held, through night and storm, the torch aloft,—
Born now in very deed to bear this brand
On forehead and curse me who could not save!
Rather be the town-talk true, Square’s jest, street’s jeer
True, my own inmost heart’s confession true, (1530)
And he’s the priest’s bastard and none of mine!
Ay, there was cause for flight, swift flight and sure!
The husband gets unruly, breaks all bounds
When he encounters some familiar face,
Fashion of feature, brow and eyes and lips
Where he least looked to find them,—time to fly!
This bastard then, a nest for him is made,
As the manner is of vermin, in my flesh—
Shall I let the filthy pest buzz, flap, and sting,
Busy at my vitals and, nor hand nor foot (1540)
Lift, but let be, lie still and rot resigned?
No, I appeal to God,—what says Himself,
How lessons Nature when I look to learn?
Why, that I am alive, am still a man
With brain and heart and tongue and right-hand too—
Nay, even with friends, in such a cause
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