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Velasquez
You would have loved them at the Mermaid, Velasquez.
You and Shakespeare would have drunk a pot of ale to-
gether,
And talked of cabbages and kings, of callots and little
princesses with flaxen hair.
And you would have painted him-we should have known
how he looked-
And he would have put you in a play.
So true and sure, grand-hearted;
For whom dwarfs and beggars and jesters were good
enough, and King Philip on his throne was not a
whit too good;
You who couldn't help telling the truth when your brush
felt the color on it,
The truth of your loves and doubts-
(And oh, how tenderly the truth about a child, about
solemn little Balthazar Carlos on his rearing steed;
about little Princess Margaret standing stiff in her
scarlet and silver crinoline, but soft and sweet as
a wild-rose heart within) -
You, Velasquez, man, lover, artist, seer and revealer of
life;
You who loved your neighbor, and tried, perhaps in vain,
to love your God; j
You who knew your neighbor and despaired of knowing
God:
Yes, Shakespeare, like the rest, would have been none too
good for you;
And Christ, looking at your pictures of him, would have
said, "Never mind, friend."