The Cholmondeley Ladies
Ladies with the slender wrists
Ladies with the fine long fingers
Ladies with the painted lips
And the alabaster features
This one in her golden necklace
Propped against the marble pillow
This one in her bony bodice
Silent figure in a mirror
Sister with the bandaged breasts
Staring with her eyes of lead
Sister with the eyes of ice
Dainty from the loss of blood
Sheet pulled tight and bed like granite
Ruff and collar stiff as oak
Infants tightly wrapped in scarlet
Warm with milk and cold as stone
Shove and snigger at the door
From the meagre village crowd
Shovel on the churchyard floor
Strikes, and breaks the frozen ground