Florence Kiper Frank

A WHITE-FACED, stubborn little thing

Whose years are not quite twenty years;

Eyes steely now and done with tears,

Mouth scornful of its suffering—

The young mouth!—body virginal

Beneath the cheap, ill-fitting suit;

A bearing quaintly resolute;

A flowering hat, satirical.

A soul that steps to the sound of the fife

And banners waving red to war;

Mystical, knowing scarce wherefore—

A Joan in a modern strife.