Poem of the Day: ‘A Song for Mardi Gras’

Rolfe Humphries’ poem, imagining a lover setting aside his beloved, is ambiguous. Is he taking Lent as an unassailable excuse to end the affair?

Via Wikimedia Commons
'Mi-Carême, Carnaval de Paris 1909,' detail, by Tavík František Šimon. Via Wikimedia Commons

It’s Mardi Gras today, or Shrove Tuesday, or whatever you want to call it: the day before Ash Wednesday, the day before Lent begins its forty days of abstinence. “Till Easter Monday all are chaste,” as Rolfe Humphries (1894–1969) puts it his 1957 poem “A Song for Mardi Gras.”

Humphries was an American translator, poet, and classicist of some renown. His verse translation of Virgil’s “Aeneid,” for example, was widely praised at the time of its 1951 release, and it remains a solid and readable version. Disliking his former teacher, the Republican president of Columbia University, Humphries was delighted to receive an invitation to submit some verse to Poetry magazine, which he did: a 39-line poem with a hidden acrostic that spelled out “Nicholas Murray Butler is a horses ass.”

In “A Song for Mardi Gras,” Humphries plays with a Welsh refrain, “Dy garu di a gerais,” that appears in “Cywydd Merch,” a late-medieval poem by Dafydd ab Edmwnd (c. 1450–97). In four six-line stanzas rhymed abcbdd, each beginning with the borrowed Welsh “I have loved loving you” and ending with the line “Till Easter Monday all are chaste,” Humphries imagines a lover setting aside his beloved.

The poem is ambiguous. Perhaps he’s taking Lent as an unassailable excuse to end the tryst. Or perhaps his religious feeling is just strong enough to demand forty days without her charms, while not strong enough to demand an end to their affair. Regardless, a light and charming poem about love and the Christian calendar.

Enter your email to read this article.

Get 2 free articles when you subscribe.

or
Have an account? This is also a sign-in form.
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Advertisement
The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use