Behind the counter invites her
To the weekly dance at Parkertown.
Concrete pleasures drive their boots
Against the puny, fruitless dream ...
And, Thomas Ainsley, they have given you
Chained tricks for your legs and arms,
And peevish lulls that play with women’s feet.
You stroke the paper of your letter—
An incantation to the absent figure.
The night upon a country-road