Mrs. Waldorf Astor

John Singer Sargent, Mrs. Waldorf Astor, 1909

"Let No Charitable Hope"

By ELINOR WYLIE 

Now let no charitable hope 

Confuse my mind with images 

Of eagle and of antelope: 

I am in nature none of these. 

I was, being human, born alone;

I am, being woman, hard beset;

I live by squeezing from a stone

The little nourishment I get.

In masks outrageous and austere

The years go by in single file;

But none has merited my fear,

And none has quite escaped my smile.

Editor's Note: Students were asked to pair a poem and a painting with no explanation as to the connection between the two.