Afternoon

Stone Roberts

Spring, Hillsdale

Afternoon

When I am old, and comforted,

And done with this desire,

With Memory to share my bed

And Peace to share my fire,

I'll comb my hair in scalloped bands

Beneath my laundered cap,

And watch my cool and fragile hands

Lie light upon my lap.

And I will have a sprigged gown

With lace to kiss my throat;

I'll draw my curtain to the town,

And hum a purring note.

And I'll forget the way of tears,

And rock, and stir my tea.

But oh, I wish those blessed years

Were further than they be!

~ Dorothy Parker ~

Incurable

Tamara de Lempicka

Portrait du Marquis d’Afflitto

Incurable

And if my heart be scarred and burned,

The safer, I, for all I learned;

The calmer, I, to see it true

That ways of love are never new-

The love that sets you daft and dazed

Is every love that ever blazed;

The happier, I, to fathom this:

A kiss is every other kiss.

The reckless vow, the lovely name,

When Helen walked, were spoke the same;

The weighted breast, the grinding woe,

When Phaon fled, were ever so.

Oh, it is sure as it is sad

That any lad is every lad,

And what's a girl, to dare implore

Her dear be hers forevermore?

Though he be tried and he be bold,

And swearing death should he be cold,

He'll run the path the others went....

But you, my sweet, are different.

~ Dorothy Parker ~