| Harriet Monroe, ed. (18601936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 191222. | | | | The Sorrowful Masquerade | | By John Hall Wheelock |
| | | EVEN as to a music, stately and sad, | |
| The young girls feet begin to move in a dance, | |
| And curiously for joy shift and advance; | |
| So to a mournful waltz, sombre and sweet, | |
| All laughing things move with delighted feet, | 5 |
| So all things that draw light and laughing breath | |
| Move to the mournful waltz of life and death. | |
| Comedy is a girl dancing in time | |
| To the tragic pipes, sorrowful and sublime; | |
| And ever she laughs back, and as she skips | 10 |
| Mimics the mournful music with her lips; | |
| Then for sheer anger at her own pretense | |
| Sobs violently at her own vehemence, | |
| And mocks her tears. But when the pipings sleep | |
| She needs must cover up her face and weep. | 15 | | | |
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