In the Restaurant - Claire Zu Bard

H, dark and fascinating young man,
(Sitting opposite me at the restaurant-table),
There are spots of color on your thin cheek-bones
And your eyes are deep and smoldering....
Your feverish fingers hold hopefully your glass of milk
And you eat your soft-boiled eggs with a relish.

But I see a black shadow at your elbow,
Oh, dark young man,
And I know the meaning of your too-red cheeks,
And of that reckless light in your too-bright eyes....
I know why you drink that tasteless warm white drink,
And why you suffer soft-boiled eggs at noon....

But I know, too,
Oh, dark and fascinating young man,
(Sitting opposite me at the restaurant-table),
That you are a hundred times more hopeful,
More passionate, more alive than I--

I,--rugged, and bursting my stays with vulgar health,--
I,--eating my juicy steaks and cherry pie--
I,--already nearing the age of thirty-nine
And without a lover....

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Claire Zu Bard, 20th century - date and country unknown