To a Light Houskeeper

(Who hitches laundering articles to the curtain
string and pastes them on the pane.)

Lady, thou that livest
  Just across the way,
If a hang thou givest
  What the people say,
If a cuss thou carest
  What a poet thinks-
Hearken, if thou darest,
  Most immodest minx!

Though thy gloves thou tiest,
  To the curtain string,
Though the things thou driest
  Gird me while I sing,
Hankies and inventions
  Of the lacy tribe-
Things I may not mention,
  Let alone describe.

These I mutely stand for
  Though the sight offend,
THIS I reprimand for;
  Take it from a friend:

Cease to pin thy tresses
  To the window sill,
Or I'll tell the presses-
  Honestly, I will.