XXXVI

My Lady unto Madam makes her bow.

The charm of women is, that even while

You’re probed by them for tears, you yet may smile,

Nay, laugh outright, as I have done just now.

The interview was gracious: they anoint

(To me aside) each other with fine praise:

Discriminating compliments they raise,

That hit with wondrous aim on the weak point:

My Lady’s nose of Nature might complain.

It is not fashioned aptly to express

Her character of large-browed steadfastness.

But Madam says: Thereof she may be vain!

Now, Madam’s faulty feature is a glazed

And inaccessible eye, that has soft fires,

Wide gates, at love-time, only. This admires

My Lady. At the two I stand amazed.

Poems — Volume 1 · 第 215 / 271 题