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."