Duty-Duel with a Kitchen-Countess

…To laugh the giddy laugh of innocence

Or lie beneath noon’s tree in guiltless ease

Ah Childhood; Keeper of lost luxuries

Stolen somehow by Duty’s recompense

And suddenly I covet the romance

Of girlish fancies, crumpled ‘neath the glare

Of dirty dishes and dust-pan despair

While doggedly pursuing Duty’s dance

Somewhere, but not in crypts of lifeless sod

A shy grave sprawls where I dare never weep

Lest I forfeit these gifts within my keep

Of blessing rendered by dear Duty’s rod

Rose-fingered dawn will soon fold to its breast

Another day of toil and spoil and such

I tremble now beneath the testing touch

Where love and longing vie for Duty’s best

© Janet Martin~