In vain we roared; in vain we tried To rouse her into laughter: Her pensive glances wandered wide From orchestra to rafter— “_Tier upon tier_!” she said, and sighed; And silence followed after.
[Sent to a friend who had complained that I was glad enough to see him when he came, but didn’t seem to miss him if he stayed away.]
And cannot pleasures, while they last, Be actual unless, when past, They leave us shuddering and aghast, With anguish smarting? And cannot friends be firm and fast, And yet bear parting?
And must I then, at Friendship’s call, Calmly resign the little all (Trifling, I grant, it is and small) I have of gladness, And lend my being to the thrall Of gloom and sadness?
And think you that I should be dumb, And full _dolorum omnium_, Excepting when _you_ choose to come And share my dinner? At other times be sour and glum And daily thinner?
Must he then only live to weep, Who’d prove his friendship true and deep By day a lonely shadow creep, At night-time languish, Oft raising in his broken sleep The moan of anguish?
The lover, if for certain days His fair one be denied his gaze, Sinks not in grief and wild amaze, But, wiser wooer, He spends the time in writing lays, And posts them to her.
And if the verse flow free and fast, Till even the poet is aghast, A touching Valentine at last The post shall carry, When thirteen days are gone and past Of February.
Farewell, dear friend, and when we meet, In desert waste or crowded street, Perhaps before this week shall fleet, Perhaps to-morrow. I trust to find _your_ heart the seat Of wasting sorrow.
HE trilled a carol fresh and free, He laughed aloud for very glee: There came a breeze from off the sea:
[Picture: There came a breeze from off the sea]
It passed athwart the glooming flat— It fanned his forehead as he sat— It lightly bore away his hat,
All to the feet of one who stood Like maid enchanted in a wood, Frowning as darkly as she could.
With huge umbrella, lank and brown, Unerringly she pinned it down, Right through the centre of the crown.
Then, with an aspect cold and grim, Regardless of its battered rim, She took it up and gave it him.
A while like one in dreams he stood, Then faltered forth his gratitude In words just short of being rude: