Ask about Avon! it advertised,
This sign I passed each day enroute to work.
So I resolved opinion to surmise;
Behind the door, in house-coat feign, she lurked.
I chimed, Good morning, fellow Anglophile!
We toured England, spring of eighty-eight,
Explored Anne's cottage, every stoop and stile.
(She was quite short the jambs would indicate.)
But Will's birth house we chose instead to miss
(Along with lunch consisting of bland fare).
To view the scene from Avon's bridge was bliss.
Did this slow stream inspire words so rare?
     Soliloquy now done, she stared agog,
     In silence handed me a catalog.

November 12, 2000

Donna Smith