Page:Men and Women, Volume 1 - Browning (1855).djvu/68

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58
A TOCCATA OF GALUPPI'S.
5.
Was a lady such a lady, cheeks so round and lips so red,—
On her neck the small face buoyant, like a bell-flower on its bed,
O'er the breast's superb abundance where a man might base his head?

6.
Well (and it was graceful of them) they'd break talk off and afford
—She, to bite her mask's black velvet, he to finger on his sword,
While you sat and played Toccatas, stately at the clavichord?

7.
What? Those lesser thirds so plaintive, sixths diminished, sigh on sigh,