Verse and Reverse (1921)/Gold Ladies


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Gold Ladies

(Fifty years agone painted on Chinese Parchment)

"Ready or not, you must be caught,
Hiding around the goal or not!"

The children shout in Hide-and-Seek:
The dainty ladies, jewel-bright,
In robes of flame and gold bedight
With parted lips would seem to speak:

"Playmates, we hid so near our goal—
Our old gay life—O days all spent!
Unready were we when we went
Trapped unawares, with frightened soul.

"'Home free!' Who's free? How vain a thought!
Gold Ladies (so you call us, dears,)
Play Hide-and-Seek adown all years.
We—such as we—are always—'Caught!'

"Ready or not, ready or not…
Hiding around the goal or not…"

—Florence Randal Livesay


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