Mina Loy




At the Door of the House

A thousand women's eyes
Riveted to the unrealisable
Scatter the wash-stand of the card-teller
Defiled marble of Carrara
             On which she spreads
Color-picture maps of destiny
In the corner
of an inconducive bed-room

       “Impassioned
Doubly impassioned
Sad
You see these three cards
But here is the double Victory
And there is an elderly lady
Ill    in whom you are concerned
This     is the Devil
And these two skeletons
Are mortifications
You        are going to make a journey

At evening      about love
Here is the Man of the Heart
Turning his shoulders to a lady
Covered with tears about matrimony

At the door of your house
There is a letter about an affair
And a bed      and a table
And this ace of spades turned upside-down
‘With respect’
Means        that some man
Has        well you know
Intentions        little honorable

Here you are        covered with tears
For a deception
The Man of the Heart
Is in thoughtfulness for a letter
He will make a journey at evening
And really        lady
I should say
It will not be long before you see him
For there he is at the door of the house

And look
Here are you
         And here is he
         In life and thought
At the door of the house”

Muddled among the aniline brightness of the Tauro cards

The wheels with wings
The rows on rows of goblets
        Passionate magenta blossoms
Hermits        —bring luck—
Moons         Prison-fortresses
Cudgels
A man cut in half
       Means a deception
And the nude woman
     Stands for the world

Those eyes

Of Petronilla Lucia Letizia
          Felicita
Filomena Amalia
Orsola Geltrude Caterina Delfina
Zita Bibiana           Tarsilla
Eufemia,
Looking for the little love-tale
That never came true
At the door of the house.