A Chicot



IN days of ancient history
Who were you? Tell me if you know.
Between your kisses answer me
To-night, Chicot.

Were you a faun by Castaly
Tracking Urania or Clio?
Or a white boy in Arcady
Astray, Chicot?

Were you a satin-supple page
Swinging a curtain to and fro,
Chanting some impudent addage
Of love, Chicot?

Were you the subtlest cardinal
That ever blessing did bestow?
At Fontarabia did you fall,
Fighting, Chicot?

Or at some monarch' table set,
Did the bells twink at wrist and toe?
Were you Brusquet or Dagonet,
Or else, Chicot?

Something you were of all of these,
Wise, gay, serene--that hid below,
More sad for all your subtleties,
Something, Chicot.

You brace your armor well tonight,--
Too well for any blood to flow;
You'd not betray in any fight
A wound, Chicot!

I think you would not flinch beneath
Life's whips, but after every blow
Stand up again, and set your teeth
And smile, Chicot.

Weariness waits on wariness,
There's leaping flame beneath the snow--
All sorts of things that none would guess
Of you, Chicot!

Are you a lover? No and yes!
Are you a comrade? Yes and no!
What are you? Neither more nor less
Than just Chicot!

Take what a passing poet sings
Before to-morrow bids us go,
In memory of--many things,
And you, Chicot!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:08 min read
29

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAC DBCC EBEC DBDC CBCC FBFC CBCC GBGC XBHC HBHC IBIC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,243
Words 226
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Muriel Stuart

Muriel Stuart was The daughter of a Scottish barrister was a poet particularly concerned with the topic of sexual politics though she first wrote poems about World War I She later gave up poetry writing her last work was published in the 1930s She was born Muriel Stuart Irwin She was hailed by Hugh MacDiarmid as the best woman poet of the Scottish Renaissance although she was not Scottish but English Despite this his comment led to her inclusion in many Scottish anthologies Thomas Hardy described her poetry as Superlatively good Her most famous poem In the Orchard is entirely dialogs and in no kind of verse form which makes it innovative for its time She does use rhyme a mixture of half-rhyme and rhyming couplets abab form Other famous poems of hers are The Seed Shop The Fools and Man and his Makers Muriel also wrote a gardening book called Gardeners Nightcap 1938 which was later reprinted by Persephone Books more…

All Muriel Stuart poems | Muriel Stuart Books

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