Nostalgia

"Through pleasures and palaces"— Through hotels, and Pullman cars, and steamships...

Pink and white camellias floating in a crystal bowl, The sharp smell of firewood, The scrape and rustle of a dog stretching himself on a hardwood floor, And your voice, reading—reading— to the slow ticking of an old brass clock...

"Tickets, please!" And I watch the man in front of me Fumbling in fourteen pockets, While the conductor balances his ticket-punch Between his fingers.