Page:Ballads of a Bohemian.djvu/38

36 And pale it grew and paler yet, Like fine old silver, rinsed and bright. And yet it climbed so bravely on Until it mounted heaven-high; Then earthward it serenely shone, A silver sovereign of the sky, A bland sultana of the night, Surveying realms of lily light.

A child saw in the morning skies The dissipated-looking moon, And opened wide her big blue eyes, And cried: “Look, look, my lost balloon!” And clapped her rosy hands with glee: “Quick, mother! Bring it back to me.”

A poet in a lilied pond Espied the moon’s reflected charms, And ravished by that beauty blonde, Leapt out to clasp her in his arms. And as he’d never learnt to swim, Poor fool! that was the end of him.

A rustic glimpsed amid the trees The bluff moon caught as in a snare. “They say it do be made of cheese,” Said Giles, “and that a chap bides there…. That Blue Boar ale be strong, I vow— The lad’s a-winkin’ at me now.”