Sly Thoughts

I'm sad to admit this, but I may have lost a few brain cells last week at work.  We were scrambling to meet a deadline, incorporating some big last minute changes, and coordinating with other consultants. 

I usually think I hold myself together pretty well in those situations, but when I look back on my email correspondence last week I cringe.  At one point, I had to retract an

My poetry book is a little
battered around the edges. That just
means it was well loved, right?

earlier email with something as eloquent as "I thought you thought I'd suggested..." Luckily that was a personal email and not something I sent to a client.

But, on the upside, that email reminded me of a poem I enjoy, but haven't read for a long long time.

When I was a teenager, my aunt gave me a book of poetry, Library of World Poetry: Complete and Unabridged, edited by William Cullen Bryant.  I spend hours reading the poems, particularly those in the "Poems of Affection" section.

The following poem from that section always made me smile (and it still does):

     Sly Thoughts
     Coventry Patmore (1823-1896)
     "I SAW him kiss your cheek!" - " 'T is true."
     "O Modesty!" - " 'T was strictly kept:
     He thought me asleep; at least, I knew
     He thought I thought he thought I slept."


Isn't it charming?  And doesn't it say so much of the era within which it was written?