Poems (Scudder)/Penthesilea
A CHÂTEAU IN THE AISNE
This was the prettiest thing we saw—the wee
Chateau that nestled lilywise beside
Its moat a boy might cross with one bold stride
Two towers double-spired peeped warily
Where frail wistaria smokelike wreathed and clung
A garden hid behind a privet hedge
But sweeter far along the lakelet's edge
The mauve and golden iris thickly clung.
A wood there was of holly, larch and pine
That tapered daintily as mosses fine
Against the softly fading afterglow
Peachbloom and amethyst—all might have been
Painted in powdered gems upon a screen
Of satin with rosewater by Watteau.
Chateau that nestled lilywise beside
Its moat a boy might cross with one bold stride
Two towers double-spired peeped warily
Where frail wistaria smokelike wreathed and clung
A garden hid behind a privet hedge
But sweeter far along the lakelet's edge
The mauve and golden iris thickly clung.
A wood there was of holly, larch and pine
That tapered daintily as mosses fine
Against the softly fading afterglow
Peachbloom and amethyst—all might have been
Painted in powdered gems upon a screen
Of satin with rosewater by Watteau.