Classic Poem

In my cousin's mansion in California
my uncle and aunt, tourists
saw it separately.
At first, they didn't know what it was -
neither basin nor commode
neither bowl nor bathtub
they circled round it anxiously
and silently.
Could it be a drinking-water fountain?

Later, when they knew, they tried
it tentatively; the dwarf-
like jet of water sprang ceilingward
and surprised their secret regions.

[From St Cyril Road and other poems]