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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MANCHY, by CHARLES MARIE RENE LECONTE DE LISLE Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: Clothed in your flimsy muslin gown Last Line: You rest with dead ones dear to me, %o charm of my first tender dreams | |||
CLOTHED in your filmy muslin gown, Every Sunday morning, you Would come in your manchy of bamboo Down the footpaths to the town. The church-bell rang out noisily; The salt breeze waved the lofty cane; The sun shook out a golden rain On the savannah's grassy sea. With rings on wrist and ankle flat, And yellow kerchief on the crown, Your two telingas carried down Your litter of Manila mat. Slim, in tunics white, they sang As 'neath the pole of bamboo bent, With hands upon their hips, they went Steadily by the long Etang. Past banks where Creoles used to come To smoke their ancient pipes; past bands Of blacks disporting on the sands To the sound of the Madagascar drum. The tamarind's breath was on the air; Out in the glittering surf the flocks Of birds swung through the billow's shocks And plunged beneath the foaming blare. While hung-your sandal loosed-the tips Of one pink foot at the manchy's side, In the shade of the letchi branching wide With fruit less purple than your lips; While like a flower, a butterfly Of blue and scarlet fluttered on Your skin an instant, and was gone, Leaving his colors in good-by. We saw between the cambric's mist Your earrings on the pillows lain; While your long lashes veiled in vain Your eyes of sombre amethyst. 'Twas thus you came, those mornings sweet, With grace so gentle, to High Mass, Borne slowly down the mountain pass By your faithful Hindoos' steady feet. But now where our dry sand-bar gleams Beneath the dog-grass near the sea, You rest with dead ones dear to me, O charm of my first tender dreams! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest... |
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