Poems (Kennedy)/At The Kik-u-Cha
AT THE KIK-U-CHA[1]
OF all the sights I e'er beheld In haunts of home or lands afar,The very sweetest one, I ween, Was Kitty at the Kik-u-Cha.A miniature Mikado court The salon seemed, with light aglowAnd multi-hued chrysanthemums— So "Japanesy," don't you know! And Kitty—well, she was divine (Celestial, I should rather say), With painted brows and hair Japanned In quite the Oriental way.
Her robe was rich with 'broideries Wrought all in gold and silver threads;Around its hem long-legged storks In solemn conclave showed their headsA flight of cranes soared up her sash To nest, perchance, where on her sleeveA group of silken cat-tails spread A most phantasmal make-believe. Not maid of Tokio herself Had worn her robe with more eclat, Or flirted with more naivete Than Kitty at the Kik-u-Cha.
Beneath a colored parasol She sat and poured her nectared tea— This erstwhile fair American, This imitation "Japanee."Her white hands fluttered here and there Among the tea cups on the tray,Then hid themselves in her wide sleeves In just the most entrancing way.I asked to taste her fragrant brew, Though tea, I hold, is not for man; She served me, but with drooping lids Demure as pagan Puritan.
But as I handed back the cup She sudden lifted up her eyes,And, heart athrob, I seemed to stand Full in the light of Paradise!To reach her hand I moved so close I trod upon her 'broidered storksAnd brushed her cranes, nor stopped to think If in "Japan" Dame Grundy talks. I know not if that tea were drugged With some sweet philter from afar— I only know I lost my heart To Kitty at the Kik-u-Cha!
- ↑ Chrysanthemum Tea.