The Skirt

Guillaume Apollinaire 1880 (Rome) – 1918 (Paris)



Hallo Germaine that's a fine skirt you have
A fine skirt for a queen A cruel queen
Let's feel the silk of it Silk from Japan
And trimmed with wide lace made on no machine

Your skirt's a silken bell whose double clapper
Your legs have struck the passing of my fancies
O Germaine now I ring it my breast heaving
My hands press down upon your willing haunches

Your bedroom O my bell is a fine belfry
My hands touch silk and seem to tear my ears
Those pegs are gallows on which skirts are hanging
Those hanging men are dazzling my eyes

Motionless as an owl the oil lamp watches

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 22, 2023

35 sec read
105

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA XBCB XXCX X
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 569
Words 114
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 1

Guillaume Apollinaire

Guillaume Apollinaire was an Italian-born French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Rome, in Italy, to a Polish mother. more…

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    "The Skirt" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/16275/the-skirt>.

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