Leonora Speyer turns an ordinary summer meadow into an elegant, flirtatious portrait. The meadow is “Lady Meadow,” a court beauty balancing her rustling trees like stiff brocade hoop-skirts, with buttercups as gold and daisies as thick powder. Near the pond—described as an iris-lashed, sky-reflecting eye—one black cow lounges at just the right distance, like the black silk beauty patch a royal favorite would wear beneath her eye. The speaker’s tone is playful and admiring, full of gentle wit: the landscape feels poised, a little vain, and serenely self-aware. The mood is light and dreamy, mixing the freshness of the outdoors with the artifice of an 18th-century lady at her toilette. It invites the reader to see the scene as a living, smiling face.
Patch and Powder — Summary
LADY MEADOW, Coquetting there with noon, You balance and sway your rustling trees Like crisp brocade hoop-skirts. Over your curling gold of buttercups You powder thick the daisy-petals, And near the pond. Iris-lashed, heaven-reflected — Yet not too near — You flaunt serenely, One black cow.
Reclining; Much as a Royal favorite wears Her patch. Beneath the smiling blue of her arch eye.