T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Meditation—the Mirror
By Charlotte Eaton| SOMETIMES catching a glimpse of myself nude, in the mirror, | |
| I am arrested, struck by the line of the shoulders, neck or bosom— | |
| And I gaze intently, becoming absorbed, lost in visions of the Figurines of Tanagra, | |
| And I dream of the days of Psappha and her comrade, Bilitis, | |
| And the later days of Aspasia, loved of Pericles, honored of Phidias; | 5 |
| Virile days when physical defect was held an offense equal almost to crime; | |
| And I remember also the aerial altitudes of the figures in the frescoes of Pompeii, | |
| And I realize more fully that no man of unchaste thought of the human form could have so delightfully portrayed it— | |
| And I adjust the mirror to reflect my body as I assume poses like those of the crouching Venuses of Naples, | |
| Exclaiming to myself and admiring, forgetful that it is my own image that is before me, | 10 |
| For the strong impersonal emotion of the artist is upon me—and I am happy. | |