From Praises, no. 38:

Of Katharine Hepburn

Enough stars glow –
Jean Harlow,
the sheen running slow-
ly down, unwilling to let her go,

or, carved from light
young Marlon –
and your Venus or
Adonis is your own election,

who shines closest,
brightest, first.
Mine’s the slender, wry
and animated Kate, a gazelle,

who makes foibles
gracious, wit
an intensity,
early likened to a Peter Pan,

more nearly though
Diana,
“chaste and fair”, but no
less “laughter-loving” than her sister.

An era falls
as aura,
a trick of the light
or time, bathing the lucky in hope.

That whole tribe was
luminous
and yet they dazzled
(which is her excellence) humanly.

John Gibbens

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