My own reflection as I hurried past,

My flaring colours and my face aghast—

The scarlet tassel of my hat that hung

Limp as a spent flame, and my skirt that clung

About my knees and fluttered at the back:

An injured moth, with sulphur stripes and black,

My bag flamboyant as a pillar-box;

My frayed gilt fringe of hair and tarnished locks.

Jagged and crude and swift I seemed to pass

Painted too brightly on that temperate glass.