Spinster
Now
this
particular
girl
During
a
ceremonious
april
walk
With
her
latest
suitor
Found
herself,
of
a
sudden,
intolerably
struck
By
the
bird's
irregular
babel
And
the
leaves'
litter.
By
this
tumult
afflicted,
she
Observed
her
lover's
gestures
unbalance
the
air,
His
gait
stray
uneven
Through
a
rank
wilderness
of
fern
and
flower;
She
judged
petals
in
disarray,
The
whole
season,
sloven.
How
she
longed
for
winter
then!-
Scrupulously
austere
in
its
order
Of
white
and
black
Ice
and
rock;
each
sentiment
within
border,
And
heart's
frosty
discipline
Exact
as
a
snowflake.
But
here
-
a
burgeoning
Unruly
enough
to
pitch
her
five
queenly
wits
Into
vulgar
motley-
A
treason
not
to
be
borne;
let
idiots
Reel
giddy
in
bedlam
spring;
She
withdrew
neatly.
And
round
her
house
she
set
Such
a
barricade
of
barb
and
check
Against
mutinous
weather
As
no
mere
insurgent
man
could
hope
to
break
With
curse,
fist,
threat
Or
love,
either.
