The Poetry Corner

Fra Lippo Lippi

By Robert Browning

I am poor brother Lippo, by your leave! You need not clap your torches to my face. Zooks, whats to blame? you think you see a monk! What, tis past midnight, and you go the rounds, And here you catch me at an alleys end Where sportive ladies leave their doors ajar? The Carmines my cloister: hunt it up, Do, harry out, if you must show your zeal, Whatever rat, there, haps on his wrong hole, And nip each softling of a wee white mouse, Weke, weke, thats crept to keep him company! Aha, you know your betters! Then, youll take Your hand away thats fiddling on my throat, And please to know me likewise. Who am I? Why, one, sir, who is lodging with a friend Three streets off, hes a certain . . . how dye call? Master, a . . .Cosimo of the Medici, I the house that caps the corner. Boh! you were best! Remember and tell me, the day youre hanged, How you affected such a gullets-gripe! But you, sir, it concerns you that your knaves Pick up a manner nor discredit you: Zooks, are we pilchards, that they sweep the streets And count fair price what comes into their net? Hes Judas to a tittle, that man is! Just such a face! Why, sir, you make amends. Lord, Im not angry! Bid your hang-dogs go Drink out this quarter-florin to the health Of the munificent House that harbours me (And many more beside, lads! more beside!) And alls come square again. Id like his face His, elbowing on his comrade in the door With the pike and lantern, for the slave that holds John Baptists head a-dangle by the hair With one hand (Look you, now, as who should say) And his weapon in the other, yet unwiped! Its not your chance to have a bit of chalk, A wood-coal or the like? or you should see! Yes, Im the painter, since you style me so. What, brother Lippos doings, up and down, You know them and they take you? like enough! I saw the proper twinkle in your eye Tell you, I liked your looks at very first. Lets sit and set things straight now, hip to haunch. Heres spring come, and the nights one makes up bands To roam the town and sing out carnival, And Ive been three weeks shut within my mew, A-painting for the great man, saints and saints And saints again. I could not paint all night Ouf! I leaned out of window for fresh air. There came a hurry of feet and little feet, A sweep of lute strings, laughs, and whifts of song, Flower o the broom, Take away love, and our earth is a tomb! Flower o the quince, I let Lisa go, and what good in life since? Flower o the thyme, and so on. Round they went. Scarce had they turned the corner when a titter Like the skipping of rabbits by moonlight, three slim shapes, And a face that looked up . . . zooks, sir, flesh and blood, Thats all Im made of! Into shreds it went, Curtain and counterpane and coverlet, All the bed-furniture, a dozen knots, There was a ladder! Down I let myself, Hands and feet, scrambling somehow, and so dropped, And after them. I came up with the fun Hard by Saint Laurence, hail fellow, well met, Flower o the rose, If Ive been merry, what matter who knows? And so as I was stealing back again To get to bed and have a bit of sleep Ere I rise up to-morrow and go work On Jerome knocking at his poor old breast With his great round stone to subdue the flesh, You snap me of the sudden. Ah, I see! Though your eye twinkles still, you shake your head Mines shaved, a monk, you say, the sting s in that! If Master Cosimo announced himself, Mums the word naturally; but a monk! Come, what am I a beast for? tell us, now! I was a baby when my mother died And father died and left me in the street. I starved there, God knows how, a year or two On fig-skins, melon-parings, rinds and shucks, Refuse and rubbish. One fine frosty day, My stomach being empty as your hat, The wind doubled me up and down I went. Old Aunt Lapaccia trussed me with one hand, (Its fellow was a stinger as I knew) And so along the wall, over the bridge, By the straight cut to the convent. Six words there, While I stood munching my first bread that month: So, boy, youre minded, quoth the good fat father Wiping his own mouth, twas refection-time, To quit this very miserable world? Will you renounce . . . the mouthful of bread? thought I; By no means! Brief, they made a monk of me; I did renounce the world, its pride and greed, Palace, farm, villa, shop, and banking-house, Trash, such as these poor devils of Medici Have given their hearts to, all at eight years old. Well, sir, I found in time, you may be sure, Twas not for nothing, the good bellyful, The warm serge and the rope that goes all round, And day-long blessed idleness beside! Lets see what the urchins fit for, that came next. Not overmuch their way, I must confess. Such a to-do! They tried me with their books: Lord, theyd have taught me Latin in pure waste! Flower o the clove. All the Latin I construe is, amo I love! But, mind you, when a boy starves in the streets Eight years together, as my fortune was, Watching folks faces to know who will fling The bit of half-stripped grape-bunch he desires, And who will curse or kick him for his pains, Which gentleman processional and fine, Holding a candle to the Sacrament, Will wink and let him lift a plate and catch The droppings of the wax to sell again, Or holla for the Eight and have him whipped, How say I? nay, which dog bites, which lets drop His bone from the heap of offal in the street, Why, soul and sense of him grow sharp alike, He learns the look of things, and none the less For admonition from the hunger-pinch. I had a store of such remarks, be sure, Which, after I found leisure, turned to use. I drew mens faces on my copy-books, Scrawled them within the antiphonarys marge, Joined legs and arms to the long music-notes, Found eyes and nose and chin for As and Bs, And made a string of pictures of the world Betwixt the ins and outs of verb and noun, On the wall, the bench, the door. The monks looked black. Nay, quoth the Prior, turn him out, dye say? In no wise. Lose a crow and catch a lark. What if at last we get our man of parts, We Carmelites, like those Camaldolese And Preaching Friars, to do our church up fine And put the front on it that ought to be! And hereupon he bade me daub away. Thank you! my head being crammed, the walls a blank, Never was such prompt disemburdening. First, every sort of monk, the black and white, I drew them, fat and lean: then, folk at church, From good old gossips waiting to confess Their cribs of barrel-droppings, candle-ends, To the breathless fellow at the altar-foot, Fresh from his murder, safe and sitting there With the little children round him in a row Of admiration, half for his beard and half For that white anger of his victims son Shaking a fist at him with one fierce arm, Signing himself with the other because of Christ (Whose sad face on the cross sees only this After the passion of a thousand years) Till some poor girl, her apron oer her head, (Which the intense eyes looked through) came at eve On tiptoe, said a word, dropped in a loaf, Her pair of earrings and a bunch of flowers (The brute took growling), prayed, and so was gone. I painted all, then cried Tis ask and have; Choose, for mores ready!, laid the ladder flat, And showed my covered bit of cloister-wall. The monks closed in a circle and praised loud Till checked, taught what to see and not to see, Being simple bodies, Thats the very man! Look at the boy who stoops to pat the dog! That womans like the Priors niece who comes To care about his asthma: its the life! But there my triumphs straw-fire flared and funked; Their betters took their turn to see and say: The Prior and the learned pulled a face And stopped all that in no time. How? whats here? Quite from the mark of painting, bless us all! Faces, arms, legs, and bodies like the true As much as pea and pea! its devils-game! Your business is not to catch men with show, With homage to the perishable clay, But lift them over it, ignore it all, Make them forget theres such a thing as flesh. Your business is to paint the souls of men Mans soul, and its a fire, smoke . . . no, its not . . . Its vapour done up like a new-born babe (In that shape when you die it leaves your mouth) Its . . . well, what matters talking, its the soul! Give us no more of body than shows soul! Heres Giotto, with his Saint a-praising God, That sets us praising, why not stop with him? Why put all thoughts of praise out of our head With wonder at lines, colours, and what not? Paint the soul, never mind the legs and arms! Rub all out, try at it a second time. Oh, that white smallish female with the breasts, Shes just my niece . . . Herodias, I would say, Who went and danced and got mens heads cut off! Have it all out! Now, is this sense, I ask? A fine way to paint soul, by painting body So ill, the eye cant stop there, must go further And cant fare worse! Thus, yellow does for white When what you put for yellows simply black, And any sort of meaning looks intense When all beside itself means and looks nought. Why cant a painter lift each foot in turn, Left foot and right foot, go a double step, Make his flesh liker and his soul more like, Both in their order? Take the prettiest face, The Priors niece . . . patron-saint, is it so pretty You cant discover if it means hope, fear, Sorrow or joy? wont beauty go with these? Suppose Ive made her eyes all right and blue, Cant I take breath and try to add lifes flash, And then add soul and heighten them three-fold? Or say theres beauty with no soul at all (I never saw it, put the case the same) If you get simple beauty and nought else, You get about the best thing God invents: Thats somewhat: and youll find the soul you have missed, Within yourself, when you return him thanks. Rub all out! Well, well, theres my life, in short, And so the thing has gone on ever since. Im grown a man no doubt, Ive broken bounds: You should not take a fellow eight years old And make him swear to never kiss the girls. Im my own master, paint now as I please, Having a friend, you see, in the Corner-house! Lord, its fast holding by the rings in front, Those great rings serve more purposes than just To plant a flag in, or tie up a horse! And yet the old schooling sticks, the old grave eyes Are peeping oer my shoulder as I work, The heads shake still, Its arts decline, my son! Youre not of the true painters, great and old; Brother Angelicos the man, youll find; Brother Lorenzo stands his single peer: Fag on at flesh, youll never make the third! Flower o the pine, You keep your mistr . . . manners, and Ill stick to mine! Im not the third, then: bless us, they must know! Dont you think theyre the likeliest to know, They with their Latin? So, I swallow my rage, Clench my teeth, suck my lips in tight, and paint To please them, sometimes do and sometimes dont; For, doing most, theres pretty sure to come A turn, some warm eve finds me at my saints, A laugh, a cry, the business of the world, (Flower o the peach Death for us all, and his own life for each!) And my whole soul revolves, the cup runs over, The world and lifes too big to pass for a dream, And I do these wild things in sheer despite, And play the fooleries you catch me at, In pure rage! The old mill-horse, out at grass After hard years, throws up his stiff heels so, Although the miller does not preach to him The only good of grass is to make chaff. What would men have? Do they like grass or no May they or maynt they? all I wants the thing Settled for ever one way. As it is, You tell too many lies and hurt yourself: You dont like what you only like too much, You do like what, if given you at your word, You find abundantly detestable. For me, I think I speak as I was taught; I always see the garden and God there A-making mans wife: and, my lesson learned, The value and significance of flesh, I cant unlearn ten minutes afterwards. You understand me: Im a beast, I know. But see, now why, I see as certainly As that the morning-stars about to shine, What will hap some day. Weve a youngster here Comes to our convent, studies what I do, Slouches and stares and lets no atom drop: His name is Guidi, hell not mind the monks They call him Hulking Tom, he lets them talk He picks my practice up, hell paint apace. I hope so, though I never live so long, I know whats sure to follow. You be judge! You speak no Latin more than I, belike; However, youre my man, youve seen the world The beauty and the wonder and the power, The shapes of things, their colours, lights and shades, Changes, surprises, and God made it all! For what? Do you feel thankful, ay or no, For this fair towns face, yonder rivers line, The mountain round it and the sky above, Much more the figures of man, woman, child, These are the frame to? Whats it all about? To be passed over, despised? or dwelt upon, Wondered at? oh, this last of course! you say. But why not do as well as say, paint these Just as they are, careless what comes of it? Gods works, paint any one, and count it crime To let a truth slip. Dont object, His works Are here already; nature is complete: Suppose you reproduce her, (which you cant) Theres no advantage! you must beat her, then. For, dont you mark? were made so that we love First when we see them painted, things we have passed Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see; And so they are better, painted, better to us, Which is the same thing. Art was given for that; God uses us to help each other so, Lending our minds out. Have you noticed, now, Your cullions hanging face? A bit of chalk, And trust me but you should, though! How much more, If I drew higher things with the same truth! That were to take the Priors pulpit-place, Interpret God to all of you! Oh, oh, It makes me mad to see what men shall do And we in our graves! This worlds no blot for us, Nor blank; it means intensely, and means good: To find its meaning is my meat and drink. Ay, but you dont so instigate to prayer! Strikes in the Prior: when your meanings plain It does not say to folk, remember matins, Or, mind you fast next Friday! Why, for this What need of art at all? A skull and bones, Two bits of stick nailed crosswise, or, whats best, A bell to chime the hour with, does as well. I painted a Saint Laurence six months since At Prato, splashed the fresco in fine style: How looks my painting, now the scaffolds down? I ask a brother: Hugely, he returns Already not one phiz of your three slaves Who turn the Deacon off his toasted side, Buts scratched and prodded to our hearts content, The pious people have so eased their own With coming to say prayers there in a rage: We get on fast to see the bricks beneath. Expect another job this time next year, For pity and religion grow i the crowd Your painting serves its purpose! Hang the fools! That is, youll not mistake an idle word Spoke in a huff by a poor monk, God wot, Tasting the air this spicy night which turns The unaccustomed head like Chianti wine! Oh, the church knows! dont misreport me, now! Its natural a poor monk out of bounds Should have his apt word to excuse himself: And hearken how I plot to make amends. I have bethought me: I shall paint a piece . . . Theres for you! Give me six months, then go, see Something in Sant Ambrogios! Bless the nuns! They want a cast o my office. I shall paint God in the midst, Madonna and her babe, Ringed by a bowery, flowery angel-brood, Lilies and vestments and white faces, sweet As puff on puff of grated orris-root When ladies crowd to Church at midsummer. And then i the front, of course a saint or two, Saint John because he saves the Florentines, Saint Ambrose, who puts down in black and white The convents friends and gives them a long day, And Job, I must have him there past mistake, The man of Uz (and Us without the z, Painters who need his patience). Well, all these Secured at their devotion, up shall come Out of a corner when you least expect, As one by a dark stair into a great light, Music and talking, who but Lippo! I! Mazed, motionless, and moonstruck, Im the man! Back I shrink, what is this I see and hear? I, caught up with my monks-things by mistake, My old serge gown and rope that goes all round, I, in this presence, this pure company! Wheres a hole, wheres a corner for escape? Then steps a sweet angelic slip of a thing Forward, puts out a soft palm, Not so fast! Addresses the celestial presence, nay He made you and devised you, after all, Though hes none of you! Could Saint John there draw His camel-hair make up a painting brush? We come to brother Lippo for all that, Iste perfecit opus! So, all smile I shuffle sideways with my blushing face Under the cover of a hundred wings Thrown like a spread of kirtles when youre gay And play hot cockles, all the doors being shut, Till, wholly unexpected, in there pops The hothead husband! Thus I scuttle off To some safe bench behind, not letting go The palm of her, the little lily thing That spoke the good word for me in the nick, Like the Priors niece . . . Saint Lucy, I would say. And so alls saved for me, and for the church A pretty picture gained. Go, six months hence! Your hand, sir, and good-bye: no lights, no lights! The streets hushed, and I know my own way back, Dont fear me! Theres the grey beginning. Zooks!