<h2>IN PHILISTIA</h2>
<h3>BY BLISS CARMAN</h3>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Of all the places on the map,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Some queer and others queerer,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Arcadia is dear to me,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Philistia is dearer.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">There dwell the few who never knew<br/></span>
<span class="i2">The pangs of heavenly hunger<br/></span>
<span class="i0">As fresh and fair and fond and frail<br/></span>
<span class="i2">As when the world was younger.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">If there is any sweeter sound<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Than bobolinks or thrushes,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">It is the <i>frou-frou</i> of their silks—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">The roll of their barouches.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I love them even when they're good,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">As well as when they're sinners—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When they are sad and worldly wise<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And when they are beginners.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">(I say I do; of course the fact,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">For better or for worse, is,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">My unerratic life denies<br/></span>
<span class="i2">My too erotic verses.)<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I dote upon their waywardness,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Their foibles and their follies.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">If there's a madder pate than Di's,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Perhaps it may be Dolly's.<br/></span><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_568" id="Page_568"></SPAN></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">They have no "problems" to discuss,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">No "theories" to discover;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">They are not "new"; and I—I am<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Their very grateful lover.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">I care not if their minds confuse<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Alastor with Aladdin;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And Cimabue is far less<br/></span>
<span class="i2">To them than Chimmie Fadden.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">They never heard of William Blake,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Nor saw a Botticelli;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Yet one is, "Yours till death, Louise,"<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And one, "Your loving Nelly."<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">They never tease me for my views,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Nor tax me with my grammar;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Nor test me on the latest news,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Until I have to stammer.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">They never talk about their "moods,"<br/></span>
<span class="i2">They never know they have them;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The world is good enough for them,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And that is why I love them.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">They never puzzle me with Greek,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Nor drive me mad with Ibsen;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Yet over forms as fair as Eve's<br/></span>
<span class="i2">They wear the gowns of Gibson.<br/></span>
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_569" id="Page_569"></SPAN></span></div>
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.