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<h2> My Madonna </h2>
<p>I haled me a woman from the street,<br/>
Shameless, but, oh, so fair!<br/>
I bade her sit in the model's seat<br/>
And I painted her sitting there.<br/>
<br/>
I hid all trace of her heart unclean;<br/>
I painted a babe at her breast;<br/>
I painted her as she might have been<br/>
If the Worst had been the Best.<br/>
<br/>
She laughed at my picture and went away.<br/>
Then came, with a knowing nod,<br/>
A connoisseur, and I heard him say;<br/>
"'Tis Mary, the Mother of God."<br/>
<br/>
So I painted a halo round her hair,<br/>
And I sold her and took my fee,<br/>
And she hangs in the church of Saint Hillaire,<br/>
Where you and all may see.<br/></p>
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