The darlings of the doorstep have no rights Tho' rigged with names that old resorts would cheer; They see the tawny rosebud tread the nights, And go unclocked -- a garden Guinevere. Believing in the butter and the bread, They peer beyond the frontiers of a frown; Betimes they list to angels deeply read, Then turn those vellumed versions upside down. They long to trade a flathouse for a Troy, The foreground of a doorstep for a fen; They would -- but their tough mothers take a joy In saying: "Cleopatra's only ten." Cleopatra -- Cleopatra, Do you see the Pharos Light? Do you think that Caesar's galley Will make the Nile tonight? Cleopatra -- Cleopatra, You were always mother's hope; There's a galley in the bathroom -- And a little piece of soap. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SEA DIALOGUE by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: CONVOY ESCORT by RUDYARD KIPLING VIGNETTES OVERSEAS: 5. NIGHT SONG AT AMALFI by SARA TEASDALE THE RESIGNATION by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN HO FOR NOA NOA by BERTON BRALEY THE RETURN by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 21 by THOMAS CAMPION HARRY CAREY'S REPLY TO THE LIBELLING GENTRY, ANGRY AT HIS WELFARE by HENRY CAREY (1687-1743) |