Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE LADY IN THE CHIMSETTE WITH BLACK BUTTONS, by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS Poet's Biography First Line: I know not who thou art, oh lovely one! Last Line: My love shall hover round thee! Subject(s): New York City - 19th Century; Women | ||||||||
I KNOW not who thou art, oh lovely one! Thine eyes were droop'd, thy lips half sorrowful -- Yet thou didst eloquently smile on me While handing up thy sixpence through the hole Of that o'er-freighted omnibus! Ah me! The world is full of meetings such as this -- A thrill, a voiceless challenge and reply -- And sudden partings after! We may pass, And know not of each other's nearness now -- Thou in the Knickerbocker Line, and I, Lone, in the Waverley! Oh, life of pain! And even should I pass where thou dost dwell -- Nay -- see thee in the basement taking tea -- So cold is this inexorable world, I must glide on! I dare not feast mine eye! I dare not make articulate my love, Nor o'er the iron rails that hem thee in Venture to fling to thee my innocent card -- Not knowing thy papa! Hast thou papa? Is thy progenitor alive, fair girl? And what doth he for lucre? Lo again! A shadow o'er the face of this fair dream! For thou mayst be as beautiful as Love Can make thee, and the ministering hands Of milliners, incapable of more, Be lifted at thy shapeliness and air, And still 'twixt me and thee, invisibly, May rise a wall of adamant. My breath Upon my pale lip freezes as I name Manhattan's orient verge, and eke the west In its far down extremity. Thy sire May be the signer of a temperance pledge, And clad all decently may walk the earth -- Nay -- may be number'd with that blessed few Who never ask for discount -- yet, alas! If, homeward wending from his daily cares, He go by Murphy's Line, thence eastward tending -- Or westward from the Line of Kipp & Brown, -- My vision is departed! Harshly falls The doom upon the ear, "She's not genteel!" And pitiless is woman who doth keep Of "good society" the golden key! And gentlemen are bound, as are the stars, To stoop not after rising! But farewell, And I shall look for thee in streets where dwell The passengers by Broadway Lines alone! And if my dreams be true, and thou, indeed, Art only not more lovely than genteel -- Then, lady of the snow-white chemisette, The heart which vent'rously cross'd o'er to thee Upon that bridge of sixpence, may remain -- And, with up-town devotedness and truth, My love shall hover round thee! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARISTOTLE TO PHYLLIS by JOHN HOLLANDER A WOMAN'S DELUSION by SUSAN HOWE JULIA TUTWILER STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN by ANDREW HUDGINS THE WOMEN ON CYTHAERON by ROBINSON JEFFERS TOMORROW by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD LADIES FOR DINNER, SAIPAN by KENNETH KOCH GOODBYE TO TOLERANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV ANDRE'S LAST REQUEST [OR, REQUEST TO WASHINGTON] [OCTOBER 1, 1780] by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS |
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