![\"GSATBeaton\"](\"http:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/GSATBeaton.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the answer?\u201d Gertrude queried. Alice didn\u2019t reply.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what is the question?\u201d Gertrude asked with a sigh.<\/p>\n
The day ended in sadness, the room filled with a chill.<\/p>\n
Soon Gertrude was gone, she had been too, too ill.<\/p>\n
A long friendship was over, years of love, years of care,<\/p>\n
Alice sat in the darkness, \u201cNow what, when or where?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
From all over the globe, tributes came overnight<\/p>\n
For a writer who\u2019d changed how to think, how to write.<\/p>\n
At home rue Christine was so cold, was so bare,<\/p>\n
Basket wandered about, then curled up by her chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaying on alone,\u201d Alice wrote to a friend,<\/p>\n
\u201cIs what I must do, for myself I must fend.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was letters that gave Alice comfort and more,<\/p>\n
Filled with joys of the past, hopeful thoughts by the score.<\/p>\n
All the art on the walls had their stories to tell<\/p>\n
Of two lives intertwined with great artists as well.<\/p>\n
Friends kept Alice busy with their visits and strolls,<\/p>\n
And with Carl Van V she\u2019d reach one of her goals –<\/p>\n
To publish the works that sweet Lovey had penned,<\/p>\n
That were now at Yale U, overseen by a friend.<\/p>\n
But a question was posed, more than once, more than twice,<\/p>\n
\u201cAlice, why don\u2019t you write \u2018bout your life, that\u2019d be nice?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMe, what do I say that you all want to hear,<\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t Lovey do swell, she\u2019s the writer my dear?\u201d<\/p>\n
Two young men would come by, one from Cal one from Yale,<\/p>\n
With recorder and pad they regaled the ol\u2019 gal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat my dears is too private, let us stop for the day,<\/p>\n
It\u2019s my time for a smoke, you can be on your way!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then a cookbook did happen in concise cookbook prose<\/p>\n
With line drawings provided by a friend, Francis Rose.<\/p>\n
Luscious recipes filled many pages quite well,<\/p>\n
And in Alice\u2019s stories there was so much to tell.<\/p>\n
Adventures there were, some in peace, some in war,<\/p>\n
All carefully linked to the food and foodlore.<\/p>\n
Dear friends added recipes with their own food for thought,<\/p>\n
With fine cooking tips from the trained or self-taught.<\/p>\n
One recipe though caused excitement – a stir,<\/p>\n
Which made Alice wonder and somewhat unsure<\/p>\n
Of how to now handle all the press, all the fuss,<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dears, is there really this much to discuss?!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Twas the plain hashish fudge that caused such a row,<\/p>\n
It was just a small pinch that would add extra pow!<\/p>\n
In the U.S. editions this page did not appear,<\/p>\n
While the Brits printed volumes without any fear.<\/p>\n
This recipe? You\u2019re curious, so curious, eh?<\/p>\n
So a few lines are next, with some tips by the way:<\/p>\n
Grind the spices real fine, nutmeg, cinnamon too,<\/p>\n
Add a handful of dates, figs and nuts, just a few.<\/p>\n
Then comes canibis sativa, <\/em>a-k-a grass or weed,<\/p>\n And some sugar and butter, now be careful to knead<\/p>\n All these fine things together till they\u2019re blended just so,<\/p>\n Then roll out little balls – the treat\u2019s ready to go.<\/p>\n The cookbook was a hit with the young and the old,<\/p>\n And Alice gained fame once again, I am told.<\/p>\n (Even many years later with the Beats or Hippies,<\/p>\n ABT\u2019s magic \u2018brownies\u2019 were certain to please!)<\/p>\n Another book was written with food at the core,<\/p>\n With aromas and flavors discussed more and more.<\/p>\n Alice wasn\u2019t too pleased \u2018bout the book or its tone,<\/p>\n But a better one followed about Alice alone.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Is Remembered\u201d, was the book that soon came to be,<\/p>\n It was memories, stories and more reverie,<\/p>\n Of Harriet Levy\u2019s long friendship so fine,<\/p>\n And how they first met the great, great Gertrude Stein.<\/p>\n More years soon went by, and old age took its toll,<\/p>\n Though shoulders were stooped Alice still played her role.<\/p>\n ABT welcomed friends for some tea and a chat<\/p>\n Of then and of now, of this and of that.<\/p>\n She\u2019d write for home magazines some here and some there,<\/p>\n About fashion or food and took such great care<\/p>\n To keep so alive what was old, what was new<\/p>\n With the spirit of Lovey always there through and through.<\/p>\n Then came a shock at number five rue Christine,<\/p>\n A shock that was sudden and oh, oh so mean!<\/p>\n The Stein heirs made demands, \u201cThis mod art is too rare!<\/p>\n It\u2019s ours now to take! It is just! It is fair!\u201d<\/p>\n And so one sad day (Alice had been away),<\/p>\n She came back to bare walls, \u201cMy, my what can I say?<\/p>\n Though my eyesight\u2019s so poor, these walls can still cheer,<\/p>\n Because in my mind\u2019s eye those paintings are here!\u201d<\/p>\n Some of her last days were spent in convent walls<\/p>\n Amid caring, dear nuns and the day\u2019s vesper calls.<\/p>\n And when her time came and her life too did end,<\/p>\n She had faith that she\u2019d see her one dearest friend.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 In a large flat in Paris on a rue, (that\u2019s a street by the way),<\/p>\n Lived two ladies who\u2019d moved there from the U. S. of A.<\/p>\n This pair, Lovey and Pussy, what to say as a close?<\/p>\n It\u2019s because of these two that a rose is a rose…!<\/p>\n
![\"lake_stein_letterhead\"](\"http:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/lake_stein_letterhead-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"