| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | In the Restaurant | | By Claire Bu Zard |
| | (From The Pagan, 1920)
OH, 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 | 5 |
| 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…. | 10 |
| 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), | 15 |
| 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 steak and cherry pie— | |
| I,—already nearing the age of thirty-nine | 20 |
| And without a lover…. | | | | |
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