If you stand where I stand — in my boudoir — (don't mind my shaving — I can't afford a barber) — you can see into her boudoir — you can see milady — her back, her green smock, the bench she loves — her hair always down in the morning — (the sun conspiring with the curtains?) — reddish brown, with ringlets at the tips — the hairdresser called this A. M. — him I have to, I want to afford. Unhappily, you can't see her face — only the back of her small round head — and a glint of her ears, two glints — but her hands, alas, not her hands, though happily, you can hear them. It isn't a clavichord — only a satinwood square — bought cheap at an auction — but it might be, you'd think it, a clavichord, bequeathed by the past — it sounds quite like feathers. Bach? Yes, who else could that be — whom else would you have in the morning — with the sun and milady? Grave? Yes, but so is the sun — not always? No, but please don't ponder — listen, hear the theme — hear it dig into the earth of harmonies. A dissonance? No, 'twas only a stone — which powders into particles with the rest. Now follow the theme — down, down, into the soil — calling, evoking the spirit of birth — you hear those new tones — that sprinkle, that burst — roulade and arpeggio? Gently now, firmly — with solemn persuasion — hiding a whimsic raillery — (does a dead king raise his forefinger?) — though they would, though they might — no phrase can escape — the theme, the theme rules. Unhappy? Nay, nay — they ought to be happy — each is because of, in spite of, the other — that is democracy. He can't spare a particle — that priest of the morning sun — A mistake? Yes indeed, but — all the more human — would you have her drum like a schoolmaster — abominable right note at the right time — in the morning, so early — or ever at all? She'll play it again — oh don't, please don't clap — you'll disturb them! Here, try my tobacco — good, a deep pipeful, eh? — an aromatic blend — my other extravagance — yes, I'll join you, but wait — I must first dry my face! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WINGED MAN by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET VALENTINES TO MY MOTHER: 1885 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE FUNERAL TREE OF THE SOKOKIS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER CHOEPHOROI: INVOCATION OF AGAMEMNON'S GHOST by AESCHYLUS STANZAS IN THE MEMORY OF EDWARD QUILLINAN, ESQ. by MATTHEW ARNOLD DEAD MEN'S LOVE by RUPERT BROOKE |