Though her teeth so snowy white So enchant you with delight That you smile and tell the darling she bewitches, Tell me, lover so devout, If they ever help her out When she tries to sew the hole up in your breeches? SARAH EDNA PAYNE Envy The first time I saw you Baylor University A respectfully stooped old serving man Held open the ponderous door Of a correct cream-colored house on Sixteenth Street And you came out leading a broad-chested bull dog. And you went with a springing step toward the long black car Where the rigid chauffeur waited. And I knew that you walked when you wanted to And that you rode when you wanted to, But that you never walked because eleven carfares would buy a gallery seat at Keith's. And I believed that all the happiness one could dream of Was yours, And I envied you. The next time I saw you You were at the theatre In a box directly across from that flag-draped one, And a woman, - magnificent, soulless, was with you. As the silken flag-curtain came slowly down, The orchestra began on a bold low chord And stood a-tiptoe, Thrilled by the flag it was seeing and the music it was hearing. And I stood exultant, forgetting everything Till suddenly I remembered you whom I called happy, And looking down, I saw you Slouching, gazing at the man in the box across from you Smiling sneeringly with the whispering woman by your side. And I pitied you. Old Age Stays Behind RICHARD WARNER BORST University of California She heard me as I came, As I came softly calling Her dear name. The rain was chill and cold, Falling, falling, In the black autumn night, In the season old; And the trees against the gale Stood bare and stark upright Between me and the lightning pale. As I came softly stealing I saw her kneeling. I tapped her window pane; She quenched the fire's bright flame And to the casement came, Stealthily creeping. |