My Madona
by Robert W Service
(blue type indicates margin desciption and orange indicates underline, in a "Spell of the Yukon" copy, that a lover sent to her Soldier in WWI)
I haled me a woman from the street,
Shameless, but, oh, so fair!
I bade her sit in the model's seat
And I painted her sitting there.
I hid all trace of her heart unclean;
I painted a babe at her breast;
I painted her as she might have been
If the Worst had been the Best.
"Why does he picture all his women so shameless? Isn't there any good in any of us?
She laughed at my picture and went away.
Then came, with a knowing nod,
A connoisseur, and I heard him say;
"Tis Mary, the Mother of God."
'So I painted a halo round her hair,
And I sold her and took my fee,
And she hangs in the church of Saint Hillaire,
Where you and all may see.
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