Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom
Daily dawns another day; / I must up, to make my way.
Here in my heart I am Helen;
I'm Aspasia and Hero, at least.
I'm Judith, and Jael, and Madame de Stael;
I'm Salome, moon of the East.
Here in my soul I am Sappho;
Lady Hamilton am I, as well.
In me Recamier vies with Kitty O'Shea,
With Dido, and Eve, and poor Nell.
I'm of the glamorous ladies
At whose beckoning history shook.
But you are a man, and see only my pan,
So I stay at home with a book.
Daily dawns another day; / I must up, to make my way.
Tonight my love is sleeping cold / Where none may see and none shall pass.
They laid their hands upon my head, / They stroked my cheek and brow;
He'd have given me rolling lands, / Houses of marble, and billowing farms,