Katherine Barton
Poem for a Headmistress
Prize-giving. Your last
Curtain call. Your swan song.
‘The Queen’ trembling
Through thick, dull air
Falls flat and meaningless
As the pale summer sky.
It has given up
The ghost of the afternoon
Already dimming to a flicker.
Then you
Suddenly you
Wrestling in all your whiteness.
Beyond a sea of feathered hats,
Between clutches of browned delphiniums
Delicately drooping
Your sugar-face melts before the crowd.
For once you are childlike
In your fear.
Not that once indefatigable gleam.
The sad twist of a smile
Uncurling on your lips
Reveals to me your nakedness.
You erupt for the last time
In a violent burst of grace
Smirking at the pretentious
Trappings of regalia
To take the last bow.
For a moment
The room strives to hold you,
Your dress fluttering its last goodbyes.
Still
You cannot be subdued.
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