"In Mind" by Denise Levertov

[zarahemla]

In Mind
by Denise Levertov

There's in my mind a woman
of innocence, unadorned but

fair-featured, and smelling of
apples or grass. She wears

a utopian smock or shift, her hair
is a light brown and smooth, and she

is kind and very clean without
ostentation ---

but she has
no imagination.

And there's a
turbulent moon-ridden girl

or old woman, or both,
dressed in opals and rags, feathers

and torn taffeta,
who know strange songs ---

but she is not kind.