Volume Ii Part 74 (1/2)

Although I enter not, Yet round about the spot Ofttimes I hover; And near the sacred gate, With longing eyes I wait, Expectant of her.

The Minster bell tolls out Above the city's rout, And noise and humming; They've hushed the Minster bell: The organ 'gins to swell; She's coming, she's coming!

My lady comes at last, Timid, and stepping fast And hastening hither, With modest eyes downcast; She comes--she's here--she's past!

May heaven go with her!

Kneel undisturbed, fair Saint!

Pour out your praise or plaint Meekly and duly; I will not enter there, To sully your pure prayer With thoughts unruly.

But suffer me to pace Round the forbidden place, Lingering a minute, Like outcast spirits, who wait, And see, through heaven's gate, Angels within it.

William Makepeace Thackeray [1811-1863]

MABEL, IN NEW HAMPs.h.i.+RE

Fairest of the fairest, rival of the rose, That is Mabel of the Hills, as everybody knows.

Do you ask me near what stream this sweet floweret grows?

That's an ignorant question, sir, as everybody knows.

Ask you what her age is, reckoned as time goes?

Just the age of beauty, as everybody knows.

Is she tall as Rosalind, standing on her toes?

She is just the perfect height, as everybody knows.

What's the color of her eyes, when they ope or close?

Just the color they should be, as everybody knows.

Is she lovelier dancing, or resting in repose?

Both are radiant pictures, as everybody knows.

Do her s.h.i.+ps go sailing on every wind that blows?

She is richer far than that, as everybody knows.

Has she scores of lovers, heaps of bleeding beaux?

That question's quite superfluous, as everybody knows.

I could tell you something, if I only chose!-- But what's the use of telling what everybody knows?

James Thomas Fields [1816-1881]

TOUJOURS AMOUR

Prithee tell me, Dimple-Chin, At what age does Love begin?