Chicken-skin, delicate, white

Chicken-skin, delicate, white, Painted by Carlo Vanloo, Loves in a riot of light Roses and vaporous blue; Hark to the dainty frou-frou! Picture above, if you can, Eyes that could melt as the dew— This was the Pompadour’s fan

See how they rise at the sight, Thronging the Oeil de Boeuf through; Courtiers as butterflies bright, Beauties that Fragonard drew, Talon-rouge, falbala, queue, Cardinal, Duke—to a man, Eager to sigh or to sue— This was the Pompadour’s fan!

Ah, but things more than polite Hung on this toy, voyez-vous! Matters of state and of might, Things that great ministers do; Things that, may be, overthrew Those in whose brains they began; Here was the sigh and the cue— This was the Pompadour’s fan!