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Home  »  Poetry: A Magazine of Verse  »  Robert Graves

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

The Cupboard

Robert Graves

From “Songs and Catches”

What’s in that cupboard, Mary?

Which cupboard, Mother dear?

The cupboard of red mahogany

With handles shining clear.

That cupboard, dearest Mother,

With shining crystal handles?

There’s nought inside but rags and jags

And yellow tallow candles.

What’s in that cupboard, Mary?

Which cupboard, Mother mine?

That cupboard stands in your sunny chamber

The silver corners shine.

There’s nothing there inside, Mother,

But wool and thread and flax,

And bits of faded silk and velvet,

And candles of white wax.

What’s in that cupboard, Mary?

And this time tell me true.

White clothes for an unborn baby, Mother—

But what’s the truth to you?