Thanks For A Gift.

Al zucchero, alla mula.


The sugar, candles, and the saddled mule,
        Together with your cask of malvoisie,
        So far exceed all my necessity
        That Michael and not I my debt must rule,
In such a glassy calm the breezes fool
        My sinking sails, so that amid the sea
        My bark hath missed her way, and seems to be
        A wisp of straw whirled on a weltering pool.
To yield thee gift for gift and grace for grace,
        For food and drink and carriage to and fro,
        For all my need in every time and place,
O my dear lord, matched with the much I owe,
        All that I am were no real recompense:
        Paying a debt is not munificence.