LOVE IN PATAGONIA

Forgetting her mauve vows the Fania fled,

Taking away her moonlight scarves with her —

There was no joy left in the calendar,

And life was but an orchid that was dead.

Even our pious peacocks went unfed —

I had deserved no treachery like this,

For I had bitten sharp kiss after kiss

Devoutly, till her sleek young body bled.

Then Carlo came; he shone like a new sin —

Straightway I knew pearl-powder still was sweet,

And that my bleeding heart would not be scarred.

I sought a shop where shoes were sold within,

And for three hundred francs made brave my feet,

And then I danced along the boulevard!