In Katherine Hale’s “Sign to Trespassers,” a woman waiting alone for her lover feels her privacy invaded by other female presences. Persephone drifts in from myth, ancient and strange, while a ghostly nun whispers prayers until the house feels like a cold cloister. These uninvited visitors disturb her solitude and fill the room with unease, as if the speaker cannot keep other women’s gazes or voices out of her intimate life. Her mood moves between irritation, fear, and vulnerable longing—she wonders whether her lover will still want her in her pale yellow gown. The final sign is both a firm boundary and a plea for privacy. The poem creates an eerie, intimate atmosphere, mingling romantic anticipation with ghostly intrusion and a sharp protectiveness over love.
Sign to Trespassers — Summary
Was ever a woman Quite alone for a day? Other women will come Who should stay away.
Because my casement's open, As I wait here for you, Comes the faint Persephone Trailing through the dew.
She has lived a thousand years, Clasped her cosmic rose; Why she comes to trouble me Only heaven knows!
And there's another woman Keeps whispering in my ear, Till she has the whole house Pierced through with fear.
Some wandering nun it is, Whose lips can only pray, Has made my house a cloister In this dreary way.
And even now your taxi Must be racing through the town. (Will you love me, O my lover, In this pale yellow gown?)
I have written out a sign That I hope they will obey-- "For all Peering Women There is no Right of Way."