Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, Spanish-Italian
“Um, No, You Can’t Have Pictures of My Feet. How Did You Get in Here?,” ca. 1870
Oil on canvas
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Artist info pointed to by my comment at another blog entry.
/// Sly Sofia is harsh and unsparing
in the Confidences she is sharing.
So, while Bella gets dressed
she hears Sofia jest
of the babe gossips claim Bella’s bearing.
/// “Goodness, Bella, you’re so cute and free.
People say soon your figure will be
wrecked when pregnancy shows.
So says someone who knows,
but don’t let out you heard it from me.”
/// Newly married, Sofia makes light
of her husbandless “friend” Bella’s plight.
Scans her face for a clue
as to whether it’s true.
(If she’s wrong, odds she’ll say so are slight.)
/// Bella planned her white outfit to smarten
with a red plaid shawl found in a carton.
When Sofia had eyed
it her comment was snide:
“If you wear that, it shows you’ve been tartin’!”
/// “Did you come here to spread rumors, base?”
Bella spat at Sofia’s smug face.
“No,” Sofia replied,
“I am here to provide
a cure for your impending disgrace.”
/// “I’ve a brother who needs to be wed
to inherit when our father’s dead.
Though he’s never desired
girls, he’ll swear that he sired
your child— and you need not share his bed.”
/// Bella answered, “I won’t join your clan.
Yes, I’m pregnant, but I have a man.
I’ll move into his house
when he’s kicked out his spouse.
Ask your husband… annulment’s his plan.”