Here comes Kate Summers who, for gold, Takes any man to bed: 'You knew my friend, Nell Barnes,' said she; 'You knew Nell Barnes -- she's dead. 'Nell Barnes was bad on all you men, Unclean, a thief as well; Yet all my life I have not found A better friend than Nell. 'So I sat at her side at last, For hours, till she was dead; And yet she had no sense at all Of any word I said. 'For all her cry but came to this -- "Not for the world! Take care: Don't touch that bird of paradise, Perched on the bedpost there!" 'I asked her would she like some grapes, Some damsons ripe and sweet; A custard made with new-laid eggs, Or tender fowl to eat. 'I promised I would follow her, To see her in her grave; And buy a wreath with borrowed pence, If nothing I could save. 'Yet still her cry but came to this -- "Not for the world! Take care: Don't touch that bird of paradise, Perched on the bedpost there!'" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VIGNETTES OVERSEAS: 7. ROME by SARA TEASDALE NATIONALITY by THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS REMEMBER OR FORGET by C. HAMILTON AIDE PICKEN O' SCROFF by WILLIAM BARNES LOLA WEARS LACE by HELEN BIRCH-BARTLETT HILLS OF HOME by WITTER BYNNER TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. NEARER THAN EVER NOW by EDWARD CARPENTER |