LordPeter List Literary Contest

When she saw the sleek, bored dancers,
When she studied the masks of Victorian coyness,
When she remarked to herself "Autres temps, autres moeurs,"
When she considered the slender-seeming waists,
When she counted the expense of the imitations of imitations,
When she took in the sidelong glances, the down-cast eyes,
the mock-modesty,
How soon she asked herself about the stupidity of men
And if they expected this pretty rising and gliding
To revive the good old days of submissive womanhood?
Mind wander'ing by herself,
she thought of jobs to do and money in one's pocket,
and (not even to herself admitted) longed for the perfect silence of the stars.

-- Sylvia Marriott

Parody of...

Back to the LordPeter Literary Contest page.