Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE QUEEN OF HEARTS, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE QUEEN OF HEARTS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: How comes it, flora, that, whenever we
Last Line: Natural affinity.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Luck


HOW comes it, Flora, that, whenever we
Play cards together, you invariably,
However the pack parts,
Still hold the Queen of Hearts?

I've scanned you with a scrutinizing gaze,
Resolved to fathom these your secret ways:
But, sift them as I will,
Your ways are secret still.

I cut and shuffle; shuffle, cut, again;
But all my cutting, shuffling, proves in vain:
Vain hope, vain forethought too;
That Queen still falls to you.

I dropped her once, prepense; but, ere the deal
Was dealt, your instinct seemed her loss to feel:
'There should be one card more,'
You said, and searched the floor.

I cheated once; I made a private notch
In Heart-Queen's back, and kept a lynx-eyed watch;
Yet such another back
Deceived me in the pack:

The Queen of Clubs assumed by arts unknown
An imitative dint that seemed my own;
This notch, not of my doing,
Misled me to my ruin.

It baffles me to puzzle out the clue,
Which must be skill, or craft, or luck in you:
Unless, indeed, it be
Natural affinity.





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