On a Portrait + 

Among a crowd of tenuous dreams, unknown + 

To us of restless brain and weary feet, + 

Forever hurrying, up and down the street, + 

She stands at evening in the room alone. + 

Not like a tranquil goddess carved of stone + 

But evanescent, as if one should meet + 

A pensive lamia in some wood-retreat, + 

An immaterial fancy of one’s own. + 

No meditations glad or ominous + 

Disturb her lips, or move the slender hands; + 

Her dark eyes keep their secrets hid from us, + 

Beyond the circle of our thoughts she stands. + 

The parrot on the bar, a silent spy, + 

Regards her with a patient curious eye. + 