She was the first person ever in my life to tell me of the many complicated ways
John Ruskin had for years given her sleepless nights
& I admit I really didn’t have a good comeback line—I began to feel a little like Robert Dudley
Kneeling before Elizabeth on a path at Kew Gardens
Looking for the pearl button he’d accidentally bitten off a sleeve of her sculpted velvet dress
& I know most things need not devolve to the devotional
So finally I just flew home from London to Baltimore & soon after she called to say she’d
Put to bed at last the final pages of her Ruskin book & was delighted to report to me
She’d absolutely nailed it with The Stones of Venice chapter about which she’d been brilliant she confessed
& I smiled only a moment with a pearl bit between my teeth