[BNP/E3, 78 – 93]

The Giantess.

I saw a comic giantess

At a tremendous feast alone,

Striving to eat some gorgeous mess

That formed a hard whole, as a stone.

But for her mouth it was too much

That, her avidity being such,

It doubled her void wish's hell;

And her mouth's wide, impotent clutch

Would have made laugh, did it not quell

Laughter with being horrible.

At her impossible, void feast

I saw her and, seeing her despair,

“What's that too large thing that to eat

You idly strive?” I asked of her;

And I laughed out serene[1] and rude.

She wept wild tears and said, “This meat

That by its greatness doth elude

My constant gaping, wild and sore,

     Is Beauty whole and complete.”

I looked at her and laughed no more,

But I wept, for I understood.

Alexander Search.

December 6. 1907.

[1] serene ^/happy\