In brilliant gas light I turn the kitchen spigot and watch the water plash into the clean white sink. On the grooved drain-board to one side is a glass filled with parsley -- crisped green. Waiting for the water to freshen -- I glance at the spotless floor --: a pair of rubber sandals lie side by side under the wall-table all is in order for the night. Waiting, with a glass in my hand -- three girls in crimson satin pass close before me on the murmurous background of the crowded opera -- it is memory playing the clown -- three vague, meaningless girls full of smells and the rustling sound of cloth rubbing on cloth and little slippers on carpet -- high-school French spoken in a loud voice! Parsley in a glass, still and shining, brings me back. I take my drink and yawn deliciously. I am ready for bed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BABY BELL by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH FORERUNNERS by RALPH WALDO EMERSON A GLASS OF BEER by JAMES STEPHENS ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 4. TO THE HON. CHARLES TOWNSHEND, IN THE COUNTRY by MARK AKENSIDE THANKS BE TO GOD by JANIE ALFORD EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 25. ENVY ACCOMPANIES LOVE by PHILIP AYRES THE PLACE WHERE MAN SHOULD DIE by MICHAEL JOSEPH BARRY TO W.A. AND H.H. ON THEIR DEPARTURE TO EUROPE by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE |