Tacuinum sanitatis, Northern Italy, late 14th c.
This picture is taken a bit out of context, being placed with this poem. The illumination is really of two horsemen and illustrates the salubrious nature of horseback riding.
One might also notice the Ghiebelline crenellations in the background on the palace, which is rather romanesque despite the Gothic loggia shown.
Never give all the Heart
W.B. YeatsNever give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.
[Home Page] [Poems Menu]
[Current Author]