Comment
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.
From Enough Rope (Boni & Liveright, 1926) by Dorothy Parker. This poem is in the public domain.
And if my heart be scarred and burned,  
The safer, I, for all I learned;  
The calmer, I, to see it true  
That ways of love are never new—  
The love that sets you daft and dazed  
Is every love that ever blazed;  
The happier, I, to fathom this:  
We’d build a little bungalow,
If you and I were one,
And carefully we’d plan it, so
We’d get the morning sun.
I’d rise each day at rosy dawn
And bustle gaily down;
In evening’s cool, you’d spray the lawn
When you came back from town.
Chloe’s hair, no doubt, was brighter;
     Lydia’s mouth more sweetly sad;
Hebe’s arms were rather whiter;
     Languorous-lidded Helen had
Eyes more blue than e’er the sky was;
Lalage’s was subtler stuff;
Still, you used to think that I was
     Fair enough.