YOUTH AND BEAUTY

I bought a dishmop -
having no daughter -
for they had twisted
fine ribbons of shining copper
about white twine
and made a tousled head
of it, fastened it
upon a turned ash stick
slender at the neck
straight, tall -
on the brass wallbracket
to be a light for me
and naked
as a girl should seem to her father.


  

William Carlos Williams.