The servants' quarters in Queen Mary's dolls house

How well the plain wears.
The butler's room seems so
Desirable beside the Queen's.

The regulation parlourmaid's
Mattress though thin
Is posture-pedic on its wires

And not half as dusty as the King's
Nightly tossings in a turret
Of high dust curtains and crown

A room a Queen would fear to enter
Without appointment. Imagine
The closed curtains parting

Perhaps in the middle of a dream.
Oh, it's only you, the Queen
Come in and share the blanket

Which on the butler's bed
Is fastened with a pin
Perfectly proportioned, like the stitches.

How hard to arrange chaise longue
Escritoire, night cabinet
To look informal in a room

The size of a cathedral vestibule
Or to lower the ceiling
With huge portraits over fireplaces.

page 144

Only the servants' quarters to which
They climbed, with trouser press
And floral jug, look neat

And gentle as an hour off
To rest the feet, open a book
And lie beneath the coverlet.