Page:Carroll - Phantasmagoria and other poems (1869).djvu/123

Rh  Within a marble hall a river ran—
 * A living tide, half muslin and half cloth:

And here one mourned a broken wreath or fan,
 * Yet swallowed down her wrath;

And here one offered to a thirsty fair
 * (His words half-drowned amid those thunders tuneful)

Some frozen viand (there were many there),
 * A tooth-ache in each spoonful.

There comes a happy pause, for human strength
 * Will not endure to dance without cessation;

And every one must reach the point at length
 * Of absolute prostration.

At such a moment ladies learn to give
 * To partners, who would urge them over-much,

A flat and yet decided negative—
 * Photographers love such.