A Bit Of Color



Oh, damsel fair at the Porte Maillot,
     With the soft blue eyes that haunt me so,
            Pray what should I do
            When a girl like you
     Bestows her smile, her glance, and her sigh
     On the first fond fool that is passing by,
     Who listens and longs as the sweet words flow
     From her pretty red lips at the Porte Maillot?

     There were lips as red ere you were born,
     Now wreathed in smiles, now curled in scorn,
            And other bright eyes
            With their truth and lies,
     That broke the heart and turned the brain
     Of many a tender, lovelorn swain;
     But never, I ween, brought half the woe
     That comes from the lips at the Porte Maillot.

     A charming picture, there you stand,
     A perfect work from a master's hand!
            With your face so fair
            And your wondrous hair,
     Your glorious color, your light and shade,
     And your classic head that the gods have made,
     Your cheeks with crimson all aglow,
     As you wait for a lover at the Porte Maillot.

     There are gorgeous tints in the jeweled crown,
     There are brilliant shades when the sun goes down;
            But your lips vie
            With the western sky,
     And give to the world so rare a hue
     That the painter must learn his art anew,
     And the sunset borrow a brighter glow
     From the lips of the girl at the Porte Maillot.

     Come, tell me truly, fair-haired youth,
     Do her eyes flash love, her lips speak truth?
            Or does she beguile
            With her glance and smile,
     And burn you, spurn you all day long
     With a Circe's art and a Siren's song?
     Ah! would that your foolish heart might know
     The lie in the heart at the Porte Maillot!
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Submitted by halel on July 15, 2020

Modified on April 03, 2023

1:27 min read
21

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABACDDBA EEFFGGBA AAHHAABA IIDDCCBA JJKKLLBA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,719
Words 288
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

Arthur Macy

Arthur Macy was a Nantucket boy of Quaker extraction. His name alone is evidence of this, for it is safe to say that a Macy, wherever found in the United States, is descended from that sturdy old Quaker who was one of those who bought Nantucket from the Indians, paid them fairly for it, treated them with justice, and lived on friendly terms with them. Early in the war Macy enlisted in Company B, 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry. He was twice wounded on the first day at Gettysburg, and managed to crawl into the town and get as far as the steps of the Court House, which was fast filling with wounded from both sides. He was on duty later at the Naval Academy Hospital in Annapolis.Few of those who sought Arthur Macy for business information ever suspected that they were talking to a poet and man of letters. more…

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