Poems & poèmes/Apology

by Natalie Clifford Barney

 

APOLOGY

While blue and khaki share the heroes'mud.
And women tend in white or weep in grey,
Though all expressiveness seems over-dressed,
Yet some must wear the colours of their hearts
Upon their sleeves, like troubadours, of old;
And sing, and sometimes write their singing down.

. . To "chase them from republics" were as vain
As to disturb the hurdy-gurdy man.
Let him go grinding music as he likes;
You see him turn his wheel, but need not hear
The tune he's playing in the noisy street?. . .

(Some hâve an organ, some an axe to grind,
While others seek how best to bury hatchets.)
We all are poets in our différent ways
And may your dreams be harmless as my own.

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