fashions faces – kenwood

FASHION’S FACES – THOUGHTS AT KENWOOD

While phantom music permeates the hall

Strummed by a maiden in a golden gown

And godlike generals glower from the wall

The past times courtesans and queens look down.

Deep bosomed prisoners with pallid skin

Each plump wrist manacled with jewelled chain

Does fashion’s face conceal the vice within?

And can a painters brush explore their pain?

Vitality compressed within a cage

What mischief might those hooded eyes belie

The painted shadows of a former age

Seen through a jobbing artist’s shuttered eye

A studied likeness reproduced by art

May never yet reveal the hidden heart