Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TOURIST'S DAY, by GEORGE O'NEIL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TOURIST'S DAY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Elizabeth wore red to kenilworth
Last Line: Close to that starling in the weeds, the throne.
Subject(s): Elizabeth I, Queen Of England (1533-1603


Elizabeth wore red to Kenilworth
And in gold slippers trod upon the lawn;
A peak of pearls upon the white proud earth
Above her eyes in summer sunlight shone.
She smiled, stepping along the graden path,
At the long peacocks and the unctious eyes
Of courtiers who came to gauge her wrath
And weigh their struggles in a brief surmise.

Elizabeth wore red and trailed her gown,
Twisted her rubied fingers in the train,
Frowning because it cooled her thought to frown
At some new girl whose beauty was her bane.
The fine clock in the turret caught the sun
And shook the brilliant hour out through its bell.
A Queen decides . . . and tapestries are spun . . .
A twinkle in the tower . . . Whose crownlet fell?

Elizabeth was splendidly severe:
Majesty was majesty. . . . Stone is stone.
There stretched the table of the feast, and near,
Close to that starling in the weeds, the throne.





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