Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HEPZIBAH OF THE CENT SHOP, by VIRGINIA TAYLOR MCCORMICK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HEPZIBAH OF THE CENT SHOP, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Can you not see her as she sat of old
Last Line: With me, a paling, wan daguerreotype.
Subject(s): House Of The Seven Gables, Massachusetts


Can you not see her as she sat of old,
In that New England house of seven gables,
The shop a medley of dust-covered chairs,
Old books, what-nots and many-legged tables?
Scowling she looked upon the elm outside,
Then turned her gaze abruptly and in dread, --
A jew's harp, six pearl buttons on a card,
An elephant of crumbly gingerbread;
Striped candies in a tinsel-covered box,
Some hooks and eyes, a child's gay spinning top, --
Some of the things that caught her restless eyes,
To sell for pennies in the musty shop.

Miss Hepzibah, the scion of a great
And honoured family; her bony frame
Dressed in black silk, now shiny at the seams;
She muses on the chance by which she came
To this dull fate, aristocratic, old
And doomed by poverty and heritage
To stand apart and read life's book perhaps,
But never see her name upon its page.
The Cent Shop and its windows looking out
Upon the Pyncheon elm, the narrow street;
And Hepzibah with hands against her breast
Retreating from the sound of children's feet,
Or shrinking at the bell's re-echoing clang,
As frowzy housewife enters to demand
Dried yeast, and failing this commodity
To shake at Hepzibah a threatening hand.

A picture that is dimmed by time....but still
I hear old Clifford's shuffling on the stair,
And open windows bring me Phoebe's laugh,
Or Holgrave's heavy voice blows on the air.
Miss Hepzibah, who lived beneath the scowl
Of portraitured old Pyncheon, time may wipe
You from the minds of others, but you stay
With me, a paling, wan daguerreotype.





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