REVERSE
But I do not love you,
So you will write
Eight hundred poems
To our love,
(Forgetting me)
And be happy!
Three Spectra
Of Mrs. X.
You—
Too well fed for rebellion,
Too lazy for self-respect, too timid for murder,
Disgracefully steal the trade-mark of the fairy-tale—
"And they lived together happily
Ever after!"
Of Mrs. Z.
Madam, you are ever retreating,
But are never
Gone—
Some day I shall pursue you
Hoping to see you
Vanish.
Of Mrs. Andsoforth.
Old ladies, bless their hearts,
Are contented as house-flies
Dozing against the wall.
But you,
Imprisoned in the forties,
Delirious, frenzied, helpless,
Are a fly, drowning in a cocktail!
Two Commentaries