Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BOHEMIA OF THE HEART AND PENNY ROMANCES: MY PORTRAIT, by PAUL FORT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BOHEMIA OF THE HEART AND PENNY ROMANCES: MY PORTRAIT, by                    
First Line: My eyes like two black diamonds shine 'neath my rembrandt hat
Last Line: Shakespeare.
Subject(s): Portraits; Soul


My eyes like two black diamonds shine 'neath my Rembrandt hat. The coat I choose
is wrought of raven broadcloth fine, and jet-black are my polished shoes.

Black locks profuse 'round pallid chaps, long Valois nose that droops askance. A
hint of mockery, perhaps. The rigid pose of arrogance.

Ironic smile and frank regard (Nature, you also love to mock!) and the air of
biting something hard when with a scheming knave I talk.

Before the church of Saint-Germain, my shade beneath its steps supine, at times
to watch the Louvre I'm fain, sad in the sunset's slow decline.

A king I should have loved to be: some luckless Louis XIII, no doubt. -- He's
sly, indeed, who'd ferret out the sentimental poet in me.

Yet for me, alas, as for all the rest, God fashioned a heart. Our Heavenly Sire,
creating all things, loves to jest and seals in ice a raging fire.

All the sounding lyres of earth I need. The human soul I make my creed. My
mind's an alembic. Gold is mixed there with blood, with roses and with
Shakespeare.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net