COLETTE

(in passing)

 

You ask who Colette is?

That`s her over there,

With the joy-shimmer light in her eye and cropped flame for her hair.

 

Look at her dancing!

At the style and the grace

In the buckle and bend and the sway of her to the tune`s pace.

 

Did you see when she smiled then,

How her teeth`s even white

Shone like the edge of Ice-fairyland in the sun`s light?

 

Why do I praise her?

Part because it`s her due

And part that she did me a kindness once – Out of the blue

 

She came to me, trustingly,

When my spirit was stark

And we laughed and we kissed and made whimsy-love out in the dark.

 

I can still hear our laughter,

Ricochet round the square

Clear as a mingle of mountain-bells through the crisp air

 

That`s when I loved her first.

I`m in love with her yet.

Anyway, you asked, and I`ve told you now – that`s Colette!