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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MADE TO ORDER SMILE, by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR Poet's Biography First Line: When a woman looks up at you with a twist about her eyes Last Line: And relieve us from the burden of that made to order smile. | |||
When a woman looks up at you with a twist about her eyes, And her brows are half uplifted in a nicely feigned surprise As you breathe some pretty sentence, though she hates you all the while, She is very apt to stun you with a made to order smile. It's a subtle combination of a sneer and a caress, With a dash of warmth thrown in it to relieve its iciness, And she greets you when she meets you with that look as if a file Had been used to fix and fashion out the made to order smile. I confess that I'm eccentric and am not a woman's man, For they seem to be constructed on the bunko fakir plan, And it somehow sets me thinking that her heart is full of guile When a woman looks up at me with a made to order smile. Now, all maidens, young and aged, hear the lesson I would teach -- Ye who meet us in the ballroom, ye who meet us at the beach -- Pray consent to try and charm us by some other sort of wile And relieve us from the burden of that made to order smile. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BANJO SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A BOY'S SUMMER SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A CHRISTMAS FOLKSONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A CORN SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A DEATH SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A HYMN; AFTER READING 'LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT' by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A LITTLE CHRISTMAS BASKET by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A LOVE LETTER by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A LOVE SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A MUSICAL by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR |
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