Camille, the cool, the crisp, the competent, Held mediocrity in such high scorn That from their junior days Will went forlorn In the wake of her ambition. Heaven bent To plead for William! but his deliberate ways, Yoked to the tedium of small-town days So irked endurance that when critics' praise Dared her to dream, the stumbling courtship ceased And William married Judy -- littlest -- least -- But smiling! If a faint foreboding creased Camilla's brow, no leniency in her bent For compromise... no girlish mood forlorn Dared voice a protest to her gay young scorn -- Camille, the cool, the crisp, the competent! Camille, in ermine and a sequin gown Gifted and gracious, may afford to pity Plump, placid Judy, neither gay nor witty. The glamour of two continents' renown Is on Camille, and if her lips be set Inflexibly against a faint regret, Who shall remark it? If her eyes be wet At candle-lighting time, for growing old With trash for treasure, where is any bold Or brutal enough to murmur? Let her scold Her little maid to tears for this renown That must be scintillating -- brilliant -- witty, Though the heart break...! Camille, that none shall pity! Camille, in ermine and a sequin gown! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SPRING CAROL by ALFRED AUSTIN VERSES TO AN INFANT by BERNARD BARTON PARODY OF A SHROPSHIRE LAD by HENRY MAXIMILIAN BEERBOHM ON MEMORIAL DAY by EMMA BERGSTROM DOMINUS VINAEAE; SPIRITUS AGRICOLA by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH LINES ADDRESSED TO DR. DARWIN; AUTHOR OF THE BOTANIC GARDEN by WILLIAM COWPER |