A GARDEN LYRIC

GERALDINE AND I

Dite, Damasippe, deæque

Verum ob consilium donent tonsore.

We have loitered and laughed in the flowery croft,
We have met under wintry skies;

Her voice is the dearest voice, and soft
Is the light in her wistful eyes;
It is bliss in the silent woods, among
Gay crowds, or in any place,

To mould her mind, to gaze in her young
Confiding face.

For ever may roses divinely blow,

And wine-dark pansies charm

By that prim box path where I felt the glow
Of her dimpled, trusting arm,

And the sweep of her silk as she turned and smiled
A smile as pure as her pearls;

The breeze was in love with the darling Child,
And coaxed her curls.

She showed me her ferns and woodbine sprays,
Foxglove and jasmine stars,

A mist of blue in the beds, a blaze

Of red in the celadon jars:

And velvety bees in convolvulus bells,

And roses of bountiful Spring.

But I said "Though roses and bees have spells, They have thorn, and sting."

She showed me ripe peaches behind a net
As fine as her veil, and fat

Goldfish a-gape, who lazily met

For her crumbs-I grudged them that! A squirrel, some rabbits with long lop ears, And guinea-pigs, tortoise-shell-wee; And I told her that eloquent truth inheres

In all we see.

Mrs. Smith

I lifted her doe by its lops, quoth I,

"Even here deep meaning lies,

Why have squirrels these ample tails, and why
Have rabbits these prominent eyes?"

She smiled and said, as she twirled her veil,

"For some nice little cause, no doubtIf you lift a guinea-pig up by the tail His eyes drop out!"

Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821-1895]

MRS. SMITH

Heigh-ho! they're wed. The cards are dealt,
Our frolic games are o'er;

I've laughed, and fooled, and loved. I've felt-
As I shall feel no more!

Yon little thatch is where she lives,

Yon spire is where she met me;--
I think that if she quite forgives,
She cannot quite forget me.

LAST year I trod these fields with Di,-
Fields fresh with clover and with rye;
They now seem arid:

Then Di was fair and single; how
Unfair it seems on me, for now
Di's fair, and married!

A blissful swain,-I scorned the song
Which tells us though young Love is strong,
The Fates are stronger:

Then breezes blew a boon to men,

Then buttercups were bright, and then i

The grass was longer.

That day I saw, and much esteemed,
Di's ankles, that the clover seemed

Inclined to smother:

It twitched, and soon untied (for fun)
The ribbons of her shoes, first one,

And then the other.

I'm told that virgins augur some
Misfortune if their shoe-strings come

To grief on Friday:

And so did Di,—and then her pride
Decreed that shoe-strings so untied,
Are "so untidy!”

Of course I knelt; with fingers deft
I tied the right, and tied the left:
Says Di, "This stubble

Is very stupid!-as I live

I'm quite ashamed!-I'm shocked to give
You so much trouble!"

For answer I was fain to sink

To what we all would say and think
Were Beauty present:

"Don't mention such a simple act-
A trouble? not the least! In fact
It's rather pleasant!"

I trust that Love will never tease
Poor little Di, or prove that he's
A graceless rover.

She's happy now as Mrs. Smith—
But less polite when walking with
Her chosen lover!

Heigh-ho! Although no moral clings
To Di's blue eyes, and sandal strings,
We had our quarrels.

I think that Smith is thought an ass,-
I know that when they walk in grass

She wears balmorals.

Frederick Locker-Lampson [1821-1895]

THE SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD

THE characters of great and small

Come ready made, we can't bespeak one; Their sides are many, too, and all

(Except ourselves) have got a weak one.

The Skeleton in the Cupboard 1735

Some sanguine people love for life,

Some love their hobby till it flings them. How many love a pretty wife

For love of the éclat she brings them! ...

A little to relieve my mind

I've thrown off this disjointed chatter, But more because I'm disinclined

To enter on a painful matter:

Once I was bashful; I'll allow

I've blushed for words untimely spoken;

I still am rather shy, and now

...

And now the ice is fairly broken.

We all have secrets: you have one

Which may n't be quite your charming spouse's;

We all lock up a Skeleton

In some grim chamber of our houses;

Familiars who exhaust their days

And nights in probing where our smart is,

And who, for all their spiteful ways,

Are "silent, unassuming Parties."

We hug this Phantom we detest,
Rarely we let it cross our portals:
It is a most exacting guest,

And we are much afflicted mortals.
Your neighbor Gay, that jovial wight,
As Dives rich, and brave as Hector,
Poor Gay steals twenty times a night,
On shaking knees, to see his Specter.

Old Dives fears a pauper fate,

So hoarding is his ruling passion:Some gloomy souls anticipate

A waistcoat, straiter than the fashion: She childless pines, that lonely wife,

And secret tears are bitter shedding; Hector may tremble all his life,

And die,-but not of that he's dreading.

Ah me, the World! How fast it spins!
The beldams dance, the caldron bubbles;
They shriek, they stir it for our sins,

And we must drain it for our troubles.
We toil, we groan; the cry for love

Mounts up from this poor seething city,
And yet I know we have above

A FATHER, infinite in pity.

When Beauty smiles, when Sorrow weeps,
Where sunbeams play, where shadows darken,
One inmate of our dwelling keeps

Its ghastly carnival; but hearken!

How dry the rattle of the bones!

That sound was not to make you start meant:
Stand by! Your humble servant owns
The Tenant of this Dark Apartment.

Frederick Locker-Lampson [1821-1895]

A TERRIBLE INFANT

I RECOLLECT a nurse called Ann,
Who carried me about the grass,
And one fine day a fine young man

Came up, and kissed the pretty lass:
She did not make the least objection!
Thinks I, "Aha!

When I can talk, I'll tell Mamma.”
-And that's my earliest recollection.

Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821-1895]

COMPANIONS

A TALE OF A GRANDFATHER

I KNOW not of what we pondered

Or made pretty pretence to talk,

As, her hand within mine, we wandered

Toward the pool by the lime-tree walk,

While the dew fell in showers from the passion flowers

And the blush-rose bent on her stalk.