Her Frown

THE MASK

HER FROWN

In the cathedral where the priests

Were chanting the rituals of the feasts,

I saw her lean on the smart stick

She always carried, and smelled the thick

Perfume on her veil. She liked the solemn

Sadness of the music, and the pride of each column

That swooped from the vaulted ceiling.

(I always had a traitorous sort of feeling

That she preferred this place to drawing-rooms

Where tea and cakes and tobacco fumes

Mingle with the latest talk.) She bent

Her head upon her missal; her prayers she sent

To God accompanied by candid sophistications

Born of her reverently shaped gesticulations.

I met her coming out. "Beautiful!" I said.

"You think so? You know, when I am dead,

I must be buried from this long nave;

It is the atmosphere I want to save

For the tomb-the candles and the vestments."

"You plan to die? Of all earthly chastisements,

I fancy from that you would be exempt."

Frowningly, "Forgive," she said, "my contempt

For your childishness-I do not fancy compliments

After benediction. Au revoir!"

Later events

Almost proved me right. She lived long

On the lavender stage of her life, committing wrong

In a holy manner. Later I heard in tea-table chatter

That she was "queer" . . . no one knew what was the

matter.

HER EMPTY EYES

But she forgave mé. I received a card

To a dinner, then a tea: "It is hard,"

She wrote, "to unbend toward you, but after all

I once was a pagan; so won't you come and call?"

What could I do? I found her surrounded

By wits and rakes who thoughtfully compounded

Exposés of their mythical mistresses

For her benefit. To these she replied, " Jesus's

Teachings do not countenance such affairs;

But (among friends) nothing quite compares

With a dusky night and silk curtains and lace

When love is high-it is like a dreamy chase

Over fascinating hills and valleys. I think

Those things are subtly pure; they link

The mind and heart and soul by possession.

And of course, my friends, there's always confession."

She talked like this until they went, then to me