Frameless

It was before the time of frames

And pictures ran wild, Eve bland at Angelus

With peasants, and the Holy Mother mild with swans.

In the untidy gallery came Edwards

Undefined but catalogued, and seeking

Something for his study. He saw ruddy

Venus toying with her dog-it said

Violets and it was a dog. But O

How beautiful, and frameless anybody

Whispered in the wind's ear, maybe Phoebe,

Or simply nameless, one's own wife or girl

In her pelt and bending over her dog. He bought it

With a pearl intended for a sermon, and there

Is his bargain no one can take home. He studies

Bare brick, sees Rome, Madrid, Connecticut,

And his wild luck, evangelical, everywhere.