Versailles(Feb. 1972)
The Palace of Versailles is beautiful;
Its Hall of Mirrors marvellous, unique.
Beneath these decorated ceilings lived
Louis Quattorze and Louis Quinze, their wives
And all their court, magnificently dressed
But verminous.
These formal gardens looked
In their day much the same; for them the trees
Glowed with their lovely autumn tint as now.
Beneath the trees a group of children play
Dragging their feet through heaps of fallen leaves,
Throwing them up to fall in golden showers
Or piling them upon each others heads.
When I am home again and shall recall
The splendours of Versailles, I’ll see again
Those children playing with the autumn leaves
And hear their laughter in the frosty air.
Meg Rugg-Easey Feb. 1972