Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xxxiii

Such was the legend. I had read it through Twice ere I thought of thinking what it meant. And as I turned with a sigh because I knew That I alone perhaps of all who went Homewards that night should bid good--night to none, From a side door thrust open on the street And calling as she passed in petulant tone To one within who seemed to rouse her heat, ``Ah, mauvais plaisant!'' ere she slammed it to, Out stepped my little woman of the Fair. Her face was altered, but its form and hue, If I had doubted in the moonlight there, Was marked for me by that unaltered sign, The little scar, its beauty's underline.