Verses on contentment with what nature wills
Two columns of moralizing poetry over faint mechanical sketches
The leaf is filled with two columns of verse in Leonardo's hand. The left column carries a coherent moral poem: the poet declares himself content with what nature grants, praises the man who builds on his own foundation and the wise man who speaks the truth without fear, and warns against those who abandon the violets for the thorns; it opens with the image of the crow that dressed in a peacock's feathers and the eagle that faces the sun. The right column is a more damaged, fragmentary set of lines. Faint mechanical sketches lie beneath the writing, which the Ambrosiana index links to a teaseling (napping) machine and a gold-beater.
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Moral verses: contentment with nature's measure
The poet contents himself with what nature wills, for whoever wants more repents of it, while the man who builds on his own foundation is called practical and prudent. The wise man speaks the truth without fear, and one should not, for the thorns, abandon the violets; in the end it will always be what heaven wills.
Fragmentary verses (right column)
The right-hand column preserves only broken lines, damaged and incomplete. It speaks of the poet not knowing how to say things, of seeking and guessing, of reading others' work, and of taking a 'refreshment' that has become famous, closing on reproaches and lacunae.
Faint machine sketches beneath the writing
Behind and between the columns of verse a few pale mechanical forms show through the paper. The Ambrosiana index identifies related studies of a teaseling (cloth-napping) machine and a gold-beater, though the ink verse dominates the visible surface.