Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HANDS ON A CARD-TABLE by POLLY CHASE

First Line: A WOMAN'S HANDS, WITH POLISHED FINGER-NAIL
Last Line: OF LILY-FINGERED LOST PERSEPHONE.
Subject(s): HANDS;
A woman's hands, with polished finger-nail,
Creeping like puffy spiders on green baize,
Clicking the cards down softly as she plays.
Plump, pampered hands! -- too lifeless to assail
The keys Cecilia pressed, or glean the frail
Ripe wheat that Ruth's hands gleaned! Forlorn I gaze
On hands of card-crazed women -- how to praise,
How glorify the dulness of their tale?
Better for hands to swing the singing loom
The Lady of Sharlot turned pensively;
Or hold the gilded Book in a convent room
With sad Francesca, listening to the sea;
Or pluck the idle fruit which sealed the doom
Of lily-fingered lost Persephone.



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