Venetian Blonde by Patrick Trombly

Titian - Venus of Urbino

On linens sun-dried white, in soft repose,

with strawberry-gold braids and ivory skin,

she shows off all the work that’s been put in

and turns her head to better frame the nose.

Tiene con noncuranza un mazzo di rose

(her servants fetch a vase to put them in,

and a dress, lest her betrothed come in

and find his Nyssia too long exposed).

Her costume, the High Renaissance ideal,

is his, not hers. Though this she does not speak,

the women in their hastiness reveal

the bed to be the color of her cheek.

She has only her left hand to conceal

la preuve de sa couleur authentique.