Robert William Service (1874–1958)

I HAILED 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.

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 Hilaire,

Where you and all may see.