Sound and Video

There in the page lies a crumpled tag
        Stopped hard at 431.
Might I assume sweet Harriett
       Could simply not go on?

The Motorola's up, I dream,
       As she reads languidly,
Barely hearing Maugham's fair words,
       For din of fast TV.

Perhaps the gal is only slight—
       Could not have won my heart.
No sound, no image left of her—
       But marker, Maugham, and art.

© A. M. Siriano, 2004 Oct 16, All Rights Reserved