Taught Me Purple

My mother taught me purple 
Although she never wore it. 
Wash-gray was her circle, 
The tenement her orbit. 
My mother taught me golden 
And held me up to see it, 
Above the broken molding, 
Beyond the filthy street. 
My mother reached for beauty 
And for its lack she died, 
Who knew so much of duty 
She could not teach me pride. 

Evelyn Toley Hunt