Meglio Tardi Che Mai!

SIDELONG GLANCES

MEGLIO TARDI CHE MAI!

Such shelter as you choose to find in doubt

May well protect you; for a season more,

Indifferent to the whimpering without,

Sit safe behind your humor-guarded door

Where small forsaken words forlornly scratch.

Or, failing delight in letter, friend and book,

You may go confidently forth to catch

My flung heart on the bright barb of your look.

Since even draggled plumes do not forget

That they are plumes, I tell you this: surprise

And subtlety, sidelong and sudden, yet

May tempt me to unchivalrous enterprise.

For even this dear and quite authentic grief

Would I renounce to shake you with belief.