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LordPeter List
Literary Contest
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Had they the time to dance all night
Her face its mask would have the right
To wear: her coyly lowered eyes
And pouting lips would fair disguise
Her self: her gown of purplish hue
Enhance the story less than true.
All the old-fashion'd dances they
Would try: in waltzes they would sway,
As th'embodiment of romance,
A year too brief Îtwould be to dance.
A hundred years the waltz would last,
Two hundred each for dances past,
A Lindy hop a decade long,
An age for every kind of song:
In his strong arms she would abide
Far longer than the oceans wide
Would take to sail: and those who view
Would emulate and think it true.
But to their ears the heavy chime
Of th'hotel clock declares the time
To change their partners, make a pair
With those no longer young nor fair,
And masks in place, they lose the chance
With love's true partner still to dance.
The hotel is a public place
Where none may properly embrace.
So, therefore, when the morning sun
Along the tennis-courts does run,
The watchers all, who work for hire,
Will don their simple, short attire,
And go to jobs, or, maskless all,
With unfeign'd strength the tennis ball
Will strike: the youthful without shame
Can play at either kind of game.
But those to whom the game means naught
By snares of pretence ne'er are caught:
The game of which they flaunt the rules
Is made by those who suffer fools,
And those less foolish still have won
To meet true love 'neath morning sun.
-- the glass-blower's cat
Parody of...
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Lord Peter Wimsey's and Harriet Vane's arms are from:
Scott-Giles, C.W., 1977, The Wimsey Family: New York, Avon
Books, 88 p.
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