At twenty she was brilliant and adored, Phi Beta Kappa, sought for every dance; Captured symbolic logic and the glance Of men whose interest was their sole reward. She learned the cultured jargon of those bred To antique crystal and authentic pearls, Scorned Wagner, praised the Degas dancing girls, And when she might have thought, conversed instead. She hung up her diploma, went abroad, Saw catalogues of domes and tapestry, Rejected an impoverished marquis, And learned to tell real Wedgwood from a fraud. Back home her breeding led her to espouse A bright young man whose pearl cufflinks were real. They had an ideal marriage, and ideal But lonely children in an ideal house. I saw her yesterday at forty-three, Her children gone, her husband one year dead, Toying with plots to kill time and re-wed Illusions of lost opportunity. But afraid to wonder what she might have known With all that wealth and mind had offered her, She shuns conviction, choosing to infer Tenets of every mind except her own. A hundred people call, though not one friend, To parry a hundred doubts with nimble talk. Her meanings lost in manners, she will walk Alone in brilliant circles to the end.
Pathedy of Manners by Ellen Kay
