Cleo De’ Merode

O, Cleo Merode

     The daintiest ode,

Is not dainty enough by half to send thee;

     Thy beauty we’ll praise,

     To the end of our days,

Although thou camest to us on a “Spree”.

     O, Cleo D’ M. –

     Bright humanized gem,

We welcome thee, Venus, from over the sea;

     To Boston please come,

     Whate’er is the sum,

We’ll shame those N. Yorkers in welcoming thee.

Nov. 15, ‘97

Accpt. by N.Y. World

(The next to the last line looks like “Wat ‘ell with”, or “Wat ere with”, or starting with ‘Wa’ rather than ‘Wat’. Unable to find a printed version, I guessed that an ‘h’ was left out and that ‘with’ was also a mistake.)

images:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OPDI2rxJqc

 

Cléopatra Diane de Mérode (27 September 1875 – 17 October 1966) was a French dancer of the Belle Époque.

In 1896, King Léopold II attended the ballet and saw Mérode dance. The 61-year-old Belgian King became enamoured with the 22-year-old ballet star, and gossip started that she was his latest mistress. Because the King had had two children with a woman reputed to be a prostitute, Cléo de Mérode's reputation suffered, and she had to live with it for the rest of her life. Nevertheless, Cléo de Mérode became an international star, performing across Europe and in the United States. At the peak of her popularity, she chose to dance at the Folies Bergère, taking the risk to do something other elites of the ballet had never done before. Her performance gained her a whole new following.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cl%C3%A9o_de_M%C3%A9rode