Read "Vain Gratuities" by Edwin Arlington Robinson online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
NEVER was there a man much uglier
In eyes of other women, or more grim:
"The Lord has filled her chalice to the brim, / So let us pray she's a philosopher,"
They said; and there was more they said of her -
Deeming it, after twenty years with him, / No wonder that she kept her figure slim
And always made you think of lavender.
But she, demure as ever, and as fair, / Almost, as they remembered her before
She found him, would have laughed had she been there; / And all they said would have been heard no more
Than foam that washes on an island shore
Where there are none to listen or to care.