Before the florid portico <br />I watched the gamblers come and go, <br />While by me on a bench there sat <br />A female in a faded hat; <br />A shabby, shrinking, crumpled creature, <br />Of waxy casino-ward with eyes <br />Of lost soul seeking paradise. <br /> <br />Then from the Café de la Paix <br />There shambled forth a waiter fellow, <br />Clad dingily, down-stooped and grey, <br />With hollow face, careworn and yellow. <br />With furtive feet before our seat <br />He came to a respectful stand, <br />And bowed, my sorry crone to greet, <br />Saying: "Princess, I kiss your hand." <br /> <br />She gave him such a gracious smile, <br />And bade him linger by her side; <br />So there they talked a little while <br />Of kingly pomp and country pride; <br />Of Marquis This and Prince von That, <br />Of Old Vienna, glamour gay. . . . <br />Then sad he rose and raised his hat: <br />Saying: "My tables I must lay." <br /> <br />"Yea, you must go, dear Count," she said, <br />"For luncheon tables must be laid." <br />He sighed: from his alpaca jacket <br />He pressed into her hand a packet, <br />"Sorry, to-day it's all I'm rich in - <br />A chicken sandwich from the kitchen." <br />Then bowed and left her after she <br />Had thanked him with sweet dignity. <br /> <br />She pushed the package out of sight, <br />Within her bag and closed it tight; <br />But by and bye I saw her go <br />To where thick laurel bushes grow, <br />And there behind that leafy screen, <br />Thinking herself by all unseen, <br />That sandwich! How I saw her grab it, <br />And gulp it like a starving rabbit! <br /> <br />Thinks I: Is all that talk a bluff - <br />Their dukes and kings and courtly stuff: <br />The way she ate, why one would say <br />She hadn't broken fast all day.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/decadence/
