Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SIMPLE LIFE - ON SIDEWALKS; APRIL 1906, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SIMPLE LIFE - ON SIDEWALKS; APRIL 1906, by                    
First Line: A lady, dainty, young, and fair
Last Line: Was worth the burdens it disguised.
Subject(s): Firefighters; Heat; San Francisco Earthquake And Fire (1906); Smoke


A lady, dainty, young, and fair,
Was cooking in the open air;
She wore a sweater for a waist,
Her Easter hat her head begraced,
Her husband—also with a hat,
A silken tile—demurely sat
Coatless upon the curb; his feet
Adorned the gutter of the street.
Their stove was but a pile of bricks,
Flung down by recent chimney tricks
Of taking headers through the air;
These were a honeymooning pair
And found first housekeeping no joke;
Her eyes were streaming with the smoke,
The while the sputtering ham she fried;
The chips he diligently plied
To flames that blew four ways at once;
He softly swore he was a dunce
Who never built a stove before;
"My love," he cried, "it needs a door."
And then a moment all went well,
While west winds had a lucid spell;
"Now hurry, Jack, while things are hot;
You take the pot,
I've got the pans. There come patrols,
You'd best stamp out those burning coals."
Then up the front steps they'd run,
Laughing as if such life were fun.
The life indoors was simpler still,
And all day long a midnight chill
Wrapped her like hydropathic sheet;
She went outdoors to warm her feet;
No spark upon the hearthstone cheered,
For if a curl of smoke appeared,
A bayonet six feet long or more
Came flashing through the opened door.
And water was a luxury rare
To be conserved with greatest care,
For when Jack brought it from afar,
Where things escaped the recent jar,
To heat it for her selfish use
Was of his kindness an abuse.
The evenings were in simple life
Devoid of interesting strife.
If through the streets they took a turn,
Because indoors no lights could burn,
The omnipresent khakis said,
" 'Tis time good folks were all in bed;"
The simple life at night was dark,
For if escaped one little spark
From hidden candle after eight,
There came a rattling at the gate,—
"Put out that light!" a stern voice cried.
"All right," he amiably replied.
He tried to imitate the mouse,
But tumbled things about the house
Till echoes rang, for every chair
Seemed placed just right to make him swear.
Against the door he bumped his head,
Then tumbled crossways into bed.
It was a morning's task to find
The garments he had cast behind.
You teachers, try this simple life
You call "devoid of nervous strife."
See how you feel the soul's spent wings
Flutter amid such simple things.
See how the dross, by spirit fire
Is sublimated from desire,—
That lust for comfort of the flesh;
Mark me, you'll know yourselves afresh.
This gleeful couple did their best
To jollify the long-drawn test;
But daily trial recognized
—By moonlight they philosophized—
That life somewhat more civilized
Was worth the burdens it disguised.





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