WHO can describe the dainty curls Rippling Marjorie's shapely head, Just as the wimpling brook that purls Down to the sea on a pebbly bed; Poets may prattle of nature's spells, Chanting its charms in their sickly songs, What makes Marjorie's hair rebel — Art — in the shape of a curling tongs. If but the day be dull and damp, Mistress Marjorie's locks are limp: Give her the chance of a tongs and lamp, Mistress Marjorie's locks are crimp. Is she, perchance, of a morning late, Deaf to the sound of a score of gongs, Blame not the maiden; only rate Mistress Marjorie's curling tongs. Mothers were wont to braid their hair, That was a mother's wish, we're told. Dimity made them debonair Once in the simpler days of old. Those were the times ere the sex could boast Mannish rights — and a woman's wrongs. Now it must smoke and propose a toast; Now it's equipped with a curling tongs. Santa Claus in the dear old times Sent it the "Keepsake" bound in calf; "Friendship's Offering," limping rhymes, Verse that the modern maid would chaff. Now it prefers a book that shocks, Yet to the friskily frizzed belongs; If you would give it a Christmas box, "Dodo" will do — and a curling tongs. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...POST-MORTEM by EMILY DICKINSON AN ANTE-BELLUM SERMON by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR OBERON'S FEAST by ROBERT HERRICK THE SOUND OF THE SEA; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW AT THE FIRESIDE by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS |