Poem by Edith Louisa Sitwell

What the Goosegirl Said about the Dean

Turn again, turn again,
Goose Clothilda, Goosie Jane!

The wooden waves of people creak
From houses built with coloured straws
Of heat; Dean Pappus’ long nose snores--
Harsh as a hautbois, marshy-weak.

The wooden waves of people creak
Through the fields all water-sleek;

And in among the straws of light
Those bumpkin hautbois-sounds take flight,

Whence he lies snoring like the moon,
Clownish-white all afternoon,

Beneath the trees’ arsenical
Harsh wood-wind tunes. Heretical--

(Blown like the wind’s mane
Creaking woodenly again)

His wandering thoughts escape like geese,
Till he, their gooseherd, sets up chase,
And clouds of wool join the bright race
For scattered old simplicities.

1. Falsetto Song
2. Eventail
3. Mandoline
4. “Comedy for Marionettes”
5. Singerie

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