I. TO AN ACTOR
You are a gilded card-case
Which I took for a purse.
Your spirit's coin was squandered long ago,
And in its place
Are white cards, all alike,
Bearing a word,
A name,
Connoting nothing.
2. PHILOSOPHER TO ARTIST
You are a raisin, but I am a nut!
What meat there is to you
Can be seen at a glance—
(Seeds, when they exist, are bitter)
My calm, round glossiness,
(For I am sound and free
From wormy restlessness of spirit)
Defies your casual inspection.
It takes sharp teeth
And some determination
To taste my kernel!
A Womanly Woman
You sit, a snug, warm kitten
Blinking through the window
At a storm-haunted world—
Sleet wind caterwauls
Through icy trees,
Which clack their hands at you
Tauntingly.
Why should you leave
Radiator and rubber-plant?
Do people stand at attention to mourn a hero
When they behold
A frozen kitten
In a gutter?
Lolita Now Is Old