The Lady and the Painter

SHE: Yet womanhood you reverence, So you profess! HE: With heart and soul. SHE: Of which fact this is evidence! To help Art-study,- for some dole Of certain wretched shillings,- you Induce a woman- virgin too- To strip and stand stark naked? HE: True. SHE: Nor feel you so degrade her? HE: What - (Excuse the interruption)- clings Half-savage-like around your hat? SHE: Ah, do they please you? Wild-bird-wings Next season,- Paris-prints assert,- We must go feathered to the skirt: My modiste keeps on the alert. Owls, hawks, jays- swallows most approve ... HE: Dare I speak plainly? SHE: Oh, I trust! HE: Then, Lady Blanche, it less would move In heart and soul of me disgust Did you strip off those spoils you wear, And stand- for thanks, not shillings- bare, To help Art like my Model there. She well knew what absolved her- praise In me for God's surpassing good, Who granted to my reverent gaze A type of purest womanhood. You clothed with murder of His best Of harmless beings- stand the test! What is it you know? SHE: That you jest!