Reading Days - Henry Jamison

On the fainting couch

That’s Monica flare for the dramatic oh

So it goes

And in the kitchen there

That’s Leonore

Who I adore

Whether I should or not

Well I don’t know

And reading the Marquise of O

On the balcony, that’s me

Walking in the garden

With Penelope

She says «You may kiss me now

No one will see»

I say «My heart is another’s

And that makes me free

Besides I have a hard-won faith

In the eternal Sophie

You think I’d just throw it away

For a little TLC?»

And reading the Answer to Job

Has been good for me

I was just a narcissist, a solipsist, a fantasist

In that old house down by the sea

And reading the Marquise of O

On the balcony, that’s me