Classic Poem

SHOP-GIRL

Yellow roses in your black hair
Hold the significance
Of stifled mystics defying Time.
Yellow roses in your black hair
Can become to certain eyes
The trivial details of emotion.
Yellow roses in your black hair
Often embarrass young philosophers
Who suddenly realize
That they have been furtively snatching at color and light.

Shop-girl, in the midst of your frolic,
Take this portrait without surprise.
Portraits are merely pretexts.