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The Parthian Shot

When the boy was six months old Paulette Key acknowledged that her hopes and efforts had been futile, that the baby was indubitably and irremediably a replica of its father. She could have endured the physical resemblance, but the duplication of Harold Key's stupid obstinacy—unmistakable in the fixity of the child's inarticulate demands for its food, its toys—was too much for Paulette. She knew she could not go on living with two such natures! A year and a half of Harold's domination had not subdued her entirely. She took the little boy to church, had him christened Don, sent him home by his nurse, and boarded a train for the West.

Eye Moons

Your eyes across a whitened table's world
  Are rims of moons burned blue
That bid me follow laughing where you lead
  Through vines that hang on you.

I know now you have covered a full light
  With purple poisoned shade,
For I would cut your curious quietude
  With jagged bits of jade.

New moons make laughter. Half a moon is but
  An interlude of lies.
And yet I dare outvoice your silver song
  For full moon's paradise.

Two full blue moons lie mystic in your eyes
  Rimmed out with silken wool.
The dream is done. You've seen the heart of me:
  A simple man, a fool.