COUNTRYWOMEN
These be two
Country women.
What a size!
Grand big arms
And round red faces;
Big substantial
Sit down places;
Great big bosoms firm as cheese
Bursting through their country jackets;
Wide big laps
And sturdy knees;
Hands outspread,
Round and rosy,
Hands to hold
A country posy
Or a baby or a lamb—
And such eyes!
Stupid, shifty, small and sly
Peeping through a slit of sty,
Squinting through their neighbours’ plackets.
1914.
STARS
Most merciful God
Look kindly upon
An impudent child
Who wants sitting on.
This evening late
I went to the door
And then to the gate
There were more stars—more
Than I could have expected,
Even I!
I was simply amazed
Almighty, August!
I was utterly dazed,
Omnipotent! Just
In a word I was floored,
Good God of Hosts—Lord!
That at this time of day
They should still blaze away,
That thou hadst not rejected
Or at least circumspected
Their white silver beauty—
Was it spite ... Was it duty..?
1914.
DEAF HOUSE AGENT
That deaf old man
With his hand to his ear—
His hand to his head stood out like a shell,
Horny and hollow. He said, “I can’t hear,”
He muttered, “Don’t shout,
I can hear very well!”
He mumbled, “I can’t catch a word;
I can’t follow.”
Then Jack with a voice like a Protestant bell
Roared—“Particulars! Farmhouse! At 10 quid a year!”
“I dunno wot place you are talking about,”
Said the deaf old man.
Said Jack, “What the Hell!”