A CHARMING woman, I've heard it said By other women as light as she; But all in vain I puzzle my head To find wherein the charm may be. Her face, indeed, is pretty enough, And her form is quite as good as the best, Where Nature has given the bony stuff, And a clever milliner all the rest. Intelligent? Yes, -- in a certain way; With a feminine gift of ready speech; And knows very well what not to say Whenever the theme transcends her reach. But turn the topic on things to wear, From an opera cloak to a robe de nuit, -- Hats, basques, or bonnets, -- 't will make you stare To see how fluent the lady can be! Her laugh is hardly a thing to please; For an honest laugh must always start From a gleesome mood, like a sudden breeze, And hers is purely a matter of art, -- A muscular motion made to show What Nature designed to lie beneath The finer mouth; but what can she do, If that is ruined to show the teeth? To her seat in church -- a good half-mile -- When the day is fine she is sure to go, Arrayed, of course, in the latest style La mode de Paris has got to show; And she puts her hands on the velvet pew (Can hands so white have a taint of sin?) And thinks -- how her prayer-book's tint of blue Must harmonize with her milky skin! Ah! what shall we say of one who walks In fields of flowers to choose the weeds? Reads authors of whom she never talks, And talks of authors she never reads? She's a charming woman, I've heard it said By other women as light as she; But all in vain I puzzle my head To find wherein the charm may be. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SMALL BEGINNINGS by CHARLES MACKAY JUDGE NOT by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER THE PROGRESS OF POETRY by JONATHAN SWIFT DERELICT; A REMINISCENCE OF R.L.S.'S TREASURE ISLAND by YOUNG EWING ALLISON THE GOOD SHEPHERD WITH THE KID by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE WALNUT-TREE OF BOARSTELL: ECLOGUE by WILLIAM BASSE THE DEATH OF HAMPDEN by PAKENHAM THOMAS BEATTY |