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