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AN ITALIAN SONNET-SEQUENCE: 7 by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT

First Line: NOT FOR MY SKILLESS HAND THAT FOND DECEIT
Last Line: AND DEATHLESS ARE THE HUES ITS WALLS DISPLAY.
Subject(s): LOVE;

Not for my skilless hand that fond deceit
He knew, whose pious heart kindled to paint
On high cathedral walls a deathless saint,
And for her face and form find beauty meet.
Ah, what face can his brush, bewitched, repeat,
Save hers for whom his temples throb and faint?
So kneeling ages make their holy plaint
In lowly worship at his mistress' feet.
No, my poor love must run an earthly pace,
Nor borrow adoration from a shrine
To light thy steps down an immortal way.
Yet listen, for my bosom holds thy face!
It would be holy for such love as thine,
And deathless are the hues its walls display.



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