Modern Penelope
( RIDDLE SOLVED )
What did she mean by that crochet work?
The work that never got done,
Lolling as indolent as a Turk,
Looking demure as a Nun:
What subtle mystery might lurk
(Of course there must be one)
In that Penelope web of work,
The work that never got done?
She lolled on the low couch just under the light
So very serene and staid:
We had some other guests that night,
One sang, another played,
A couple discovered the stars were bright,
Of course a youth and a maid,
I watched her knitting under the light
So very serene and staid.
I knew that she was a rogue in her heart,
As roguish as ever could be,
And she knew that I knew, yet would not dart
A single glance at me,
But seemed as it were withdrawn apart
Amid the companie,
A nun in her face, with a rogue in her heart
As roguish as ever could be.
I like a riddle when is knot
Involves a pretty girl,
I puzzle about, now cold, now hot,
Through every loop and twirl,
For the question is " Who" as well as " What"?
And the answer is thus a pearl,
And really you cannot study the knot,
Unless you study the girl.
With a graceful lazy kittypuss air
She fingered the net and the ball:
At first she started to work on the square,
And then she undid all:
To make it round was next her care,
But the progress was strangely small,
With a graceful lazy kittypuss air
Trifling with net and ball.
About her lips a quiet smile
Came hovering, then took rest:
A butterfly in the selfsame style
Will choose some sweet flower's breast:
Her eyes were drooping all the while,
But the drooping lids expressed
The satisfaction of a smile
Like a butterfly at rest.
Her hands kept floating to and fro
Like a pair of soft white doves,
In gentle dalliance coy and slow
Around a nest of Loves:
And against my chair her couch was low,
And six was the size of her gloves,
They were charming those hands there to and fro
Like a pair of soft white doves.
Her fair face opened like a flower,
And a sigh thrilled the smile on her lips,
And her eyes shone out with a dazzling power
From the dream of their half-eclipse
As she welcomed the trill of " A summer shower"
With plausive finger-tips —
Oh! her eyes so bright, and her face like a flower,
And the exquisite smile of her lips!
Those hands kept floating soft and white
Our hearts to mesmerise,
Those dark eyes keep half-veiled their light
To lure and lure our eyes;
That web is but a subtle sleight
To mesh us by surprise:
Do I not read your riddle right,
Penelope the wise?
O you nun in face with the rogue in your heart
As roguish as ever can be,
You have played an immensely wiser part
Than the old Penelope:
You have caught twin loves in the toils of your art,
And neither will ever get free:
You have won the game of a heart for a heart,
And when shall the settling be?
What did she mean by that crochet work?
The work that never got done,
Lolling as indolent as a Turk,
Looking demure as a Nun:
What subtle mystery might lurk
(Of course there must be one)
In that Penelope web of work,
The work that never got done?
She lolled on the low couch just under the light
So very serene and staid:
We had some other guests that night,
One sang, another played,
A couple discovered the stars were bright,
Of course a youth and a maid,
I watched her knitting under the light
So very serene and staid.
I knew that she was a rogue in her heart,
As roguish as ever could be,
And she knew that I knew, yet would not dart
A single glance at me,
But seemed as it were withdrawn apart
Amid the companie,
A nun in her face, with a rogue in her heart
As roguish as ever could be.
I like a riddle when is knot
Involves a pretty girl,
I puzzle about, now cold, now hot,
Through every loop and twirl,
For the question is " Who" as well as " What"?
And the answer is thus a pearl,
And really you cannot study the knot,
Unless you study the girl.
With a graceful lazy kittypuss air
She fingered the net and the ball:
At first she started to work on the square,
And then she undid all:
To make it round was next her care,
But the progress was strangely small,
With a graceful lazy kittypuss air
Trifling with net and ball.
About her lips a quiet smile
Came hovering, then took rest:
A butterfly in the selfsame style
Will choose some sweet flower's breast:
Her eyes were drooping all the while,
But the drooping lids expressed
The satisfaction of a smile
Like a butterfly at rest.
Her hands kept floating to and fro
Like a pair of soft white doves,
In gentle dalliance coy and slow
Around a nest of Loves:
And against my chair her couch was low,
And six was the size of her gloves,
They were charming those hands there to and fro
Like a pair of soft white doves.
Her fair face opened like a flower,
And a sigh thrilled the smile on her lips,
And her eyes shone out with a dazzling power
From the dream of their half-eclipse
As she welcomed the trill of " A summer shower"
With plausive finger-tips —
Oh! her eyes so bright, and her face like a flower,
And the exquisite smile of her lips!
Those hands kept floating soft and white
Our hearts to mesmerise,
Those dark eyes keep half-veiled their light
To lure and lure our eyes;
That web is but a subtle sleight
To mesh us by surprise:
Do I not read your riddle right,
Penelope the wise?
O you nun in face with the rogue in your heart
As roguish as ever can be,
You have played an immensely wiser part
Than the old Penelope:
You have caught twin loves in the toils of your art,
And neither will ever get free:
You have won the game of a heart for a heart,
And when shall the settling be?
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