My Lady unto Madam makes her bow. <br />The charm of women is, that even while <br />You're probed by them for tears, you yet may smile, <br />Nay, laugh outright, as I have done just now. <br />The interview was gracious: they anoint <br />(To me aside) each other with fine praise: <br />Discriminating compliments they raise, <br />That hit with wondrous aim on the weak point: <br />My Lady's nose of Nature might complain. <br />It is not fashioned aptly to express <br />Her character of large-browed steadfastness. <br />But Madam says: Thereof she may be vain! <br />Now, Madam's faulty feature is a glazed <br />And inaccessible eye, that has soft fires, <br />Wide gates, at love-time only. This admires <br />My Lady. At the two I stand amazed.<br /><br />George Meredith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/modern-love-xxxvi-my-lady-unto-madam/
