A dog lies outside a window in the cold, pressing close to the glass and watching the woman inside with urgent, adoring eyes. He shivers on the windy terrace, but simply being near her, even separated by the window, makes him content. The woman is writing a letter and only half-notices him, speaking to him now and then while her mind stays on her work. The speaker’s voice is calm but quietly sad, and the poem ends with a pointed question: does the woman, too, devote herself to someone not worthy of her? The mood is tender and wintry, filled with longing and the ache of affection given more deeply than it is returned. It captures how love can be patient and painful at once, like waiting behind glass for attention that may never fully come.
Fool's Money Bags — Summary
Outside the long window, With his head on the stone sill, The dog is lying, Gazing at his Beloved. His eyes are wet and urgent, And his body is taut and shaking. It is cold on the terrace; A pale wind licks along the stone slabs, But the dog gazes through the glass And is content.
The Beloved is writing a letter. Occasionally she speaks to the dog, But she is thinking of her writing. Does she, too, give her devotion to one Not worthy?