Why did I select to put on that hat?
It was bitter chilly, that’s why I wore
The glamorous fur: it coated sufficient
Of my head to render me nameless
(I didn’t imply to look mysterious).
After the get together we hailed a cab, fortunately
Sped, heat collectively at the hours of darkness till,
On an unfamiliar block, the taxi
Stopped, not an indication or a purple mild in sight.
Why did you cease? my husband mentioned,
As a person out of nowhere appeared,
Like a personality in a sinister plot,
Approaching the door
On the facet of the automobile the place I sat—
His face swimming near the glass
Between us, window he knocked on
With the knuckles of his hand, a window
That I, too startled to do something
However look him within the eye,
Started to roll down, roll down,
When instantly he might see
A face he caught sight of
In silhouette: He should have taken me
For another person, what kind of particular person,
What sort of lady, I have no idea.
The hat, the hat, due to the hat
He noticed somebody he needed
Or didn’t wish to see, he was ready
For her or by no means needed to see her
Once more, she had one thing he wanted,
A message to relay, she owed him
One thing, was there simply then
For a rendezvous, or there
By likelihood, not anticipating him
To search out her, and the hat, my hat,
Was the lifeless giveaway
Of her id. If I took off my hat,
He would have identified immediately
Who I used to be not. Suddenly
He un-saw what he had seen,
My ignorance of who he was,
The hazard of his harmless mistake,
Evident definitely (his jaw,
A flicker round his jaw palpable).
And he mentioned Go,
Releasing us into the evening,
Touching the automobile door
As if breaking a spell.
Why did you cease? mentioned my husband,
As soon as extra, as quickly because the cab took off.
I believed he was an undercover cop,
Asking me to drag over, replied the motive force.
By streets of neon ice and snow
We fled, till Jack and I have been dwelling,
Protected in mattress, although I, sleepless
Beside my sleeping mate, couldn’t cease
Questioning who he thought he noticed
Earlier than the window rolled open
—What did and didn’t occur
Contained in the second between—
Couldn’t, for the lifetime of me,
His face within the glass unsee.