Classic Poem

Who is that woman, Philip, standing there
Before the mirror doing up her hair?

You're dreaming, Phoebe, or the morning light
Mixing and mingling with the dying light
Makes shapes out of the darkness, and you see
Some dream-remembered phantasy maybe.

Yet it grows clearer with the growing day,
And in the cold dawnlight her hair is grey;
Her lifted arms are naught but bone; her hands
Are lean as claws, and fumble as she stands
Trying to pin a wisp into its place.
O Philip, I must look upon her face
There in the mirror! Nay, but I will rise
And peep over her shoulder. ... Oh, the eyes
That burn out from the face of skin and bone,
Searching my very marrow, are my own!