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!