Classic Poem

As A. C. S WINBURNE and F. Locker -L AMPSON Might Have Collaborated.

What artist I wonder could draw you;
What painter could hope to portray
The grace that was yours when I saw you
Alone at the end of the day.
There was love in the lines of your bodice,
There was magic in many a fold;
And your glance had the glow of a goddess,
My Lady of Gold.

You were reading some book of the hour;
And, skimming the pages in haste,
You paused to adjust a white flower
That had dropped from the ones at your waist.
Your cheeks were the confident color
That Coty or D'Orsay supplies;
And the pearls and the diamonds were duller
Than ever your eyes.

Your blushes were blissful and blameless,
A mingling of lilies and fire —
Yet I knew you at once for a shameless
And impotent mock of desire.
For your lips were revealed when I saw you;
They were cruel and careless and cold —
And I wonder what artist could draw you,
My Lady of Gold.