He Jests Concerning His Poverty - Bartolomeo di Sant' Angelo

I am so passing rich in poverty
    That I could furnish forth Paris and Rome,
    Pisa and Padua and Byzantium,
Venice and Lucca, Florence and Forli;
For I possess in actual specie,
    Of nihil and of nothing a great sum;
    And unto this my hoard whole shiploads come,
What between nought and zero, annually.
In gold and precious jewels I have got
    A hundred ciphers' worth, all roundly writ;
        And therewithal am free to feast my friend.
        Because I need not be afraid to spend,
    Nor doubt the safety of my wealth a whit:-
No thief will ever steal thereof, God wot.

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Bartolomeo di Sant' Angelo (13th century) Italy
Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti