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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A MAID GOES BY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The fair weather laughs like a song. The town is so full
Last Line: And I no longer feel like going out, this morning.
Subject(s): Love; Strangers


The fair weather laughs like a song. The town is so full
Of the spring, with its finches and roses, I see the whole country
In capital letters, at the start of a romance,
When all is calm, and the rush of mad events
Has not yet broken the peace of the characters.
And it's the polished setting, decorous and displayed,
Of a story told in the once-upon-a time.
—I'm going out. The sky crowds through my window.
I think of the passerby I'm going to see
Amidst all that blue, and I delay on purpose
To summon him forth. Then I wait for a closer look
At the cyclist who has suddenly appeared
Outside the church, and is climbing the broad street.
She comes along with a faint rustling of wings.
Her dress seems to hover over the turning wheels.
I can follow the nervous play of her ankles, rising
Alternately. She's a young girl in a spring dress,
Coming from the forest. And I think:
Little stranger, I'd like to put you in my verse,
So as to see you still. ... But how shall I hold
Your eyes with metaphors! Horror! What words can say
Simply the sweetness of being as you are,
This sonorous day of birds and foliage,
In this cool town, young girl in white from the forest? ...
—One pedal high, she leaps, she stops; her face,
Her eyes, must be flowered by the blent perfumes
Of the journey. She smiles at having reached the place,
Takes the bicycle, dusts out the sunbeams caught
In the folds of her skirt, sees me ... and blushes a little,
And with one finger tucks under her tam-o'-shanter
Her flying hair. It falls again. ... Never mind!
She goes in quickly. The door creaks closed. The bell
Tinkles and tinkles as though it will never stop.
And I no longer feel like going out, this morning.





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