Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/235

 A LOST SUMMER. 22$

Not mine, with its true-hearted roses,

Whose petals, shrunk sadly, yet sweet, Bear incense from kerchief and ribbon

As they flutter away to my feet; Not mine, with its thankful remembrance

Of all that I count and keep The grass on the hillside unbroken,

The mercies of waking and sleep.

But I heard Kitty Avenue s mother,

Through treacherous, close-folded blind, As she strapped the last trunk, high and mighty,

With Kitty s bright finery lined, Discourse in no soft, measured accents,

Till it seemed it was certainly so, That the summer was lost when the damsel

Had failed to secure a rich beau.

As she chided, the rows on the river

With Allenby Lyle all alone, And sundry piazza-spent evenings

That projects and plans had overthrown, Summing up, with a querulous quaver,

Fair Kitty s &quot;best season&quot; as &quot; lost,&quot; With a dreary remembrance upon her

Of what the experiment cost.

1 There was young Lamoureux nearly crazy,

He s got a town-house and a yacht ! Old muddle-head Golden was raving About your blue eyes, and all that ;

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