Barmaid
Barmaid
Original Text
William Ernest Henley, "London Types XIII," Poems (London: Macmillan and Co., 1920): 215. PR 4783 A36 1921 Robarts Library
1Though, if you ask her name, she says Elise,
2Being plain Elizabeth, e'en let it pass,
3And own that, if her aspirates take their ease,
4She ever makes a point, in washing glass,
5Handling the engine, turning taps for tots,
6And countering change, and scorning what men say,
7Of posing as a dove among the pots,
8Nor often gives her dignity away.
9Her head's a work of art, and, if her eyes
10Be tired and ignorant, she has a waist;
11Cheaply the Mode she shadows; and she tries
12From penny novels to amend her taste;
13And, having mopped the zinc for certain years,
14And faced the gas, she fades and disappears.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1996-2000.
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