Beautiful Cynicism III

Mander ce châle et ce fer aux fesses
Douze dix châle est-ce folie Grèce
Ouest ne céder ce châle est ce fol huhau!
Tiers dès ce châle a ce farde dégout
Ferraille dès ce châle est-ce l’eau vigne en gui vigne
Sept heures d’est ce châle lueur garde forêt les vignes
Andes châle date est-ce abornant deux sabotiers
Et ce bonnet, en balade, un goût en guais.¹

¹This little poem is an ode to shawls, their qualities and virtues; they should wear like iron and be long enough to cover the hips. A shawl costing only 12/10 is sheer Greek folly and should be avoided by Occidentals. They should be kept clean and not be smudged with make-up. If shot with metal (threads), the design should be a grapevine or mistletoe, and it will glow even at dusk. The reference to the Andes must, of course, be because of the varied forms of shawls worn by the indigenes – i.e., rebosos, tilmas, serapes, ruanas and ponchos. The last line refers to bonnets, worn on a promenade, as being in the taste of an impotent or sterile herring.

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