At table the children,
allowed the radio,
unaccountably chose opera.
The light steadied under the swung lamp,
the cloth clean and pulled over the center,
the music low but building.
Tableau: the palm-sized players,
magnified behind the water glasses,
minuet round the salt.
Any talk was of costumes,
making and remarking their hats and the king
lovely, all along his robes
of decided red were drawn
noble, resting dogs:
what they saw when they heard.
from Inside Spiders
Copyright © Persea Books 2013
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc.
on behalf of Persea Books.