Page:London Town (1883).pdf/24

 the drake to the ducks, "Here’s a boy with a bun,
 * Come, make haste! we shall have quite a feast!"

"Would you mind," said a swan, "if we shared in the fun?"
 * "O dear no!" said he; "not in the least!"

It was surely through fear, not politeness at all,
 * That the drake made so civil a speech,

For that one penny bun, after all, was so small,
 * There was hardly a mouthful for each!

the ducks and the swans on the lake, to next page—
 * A much quieter scene—you may pass:

Though Westminster Cloisters are hoary with age,
 * Yet green is their velvety grass,

And cheerily bright are their gables and peaks,
 * As they glow in the westering sun:

’Tis some house in the Cloisters yon schoolboy seeks—
 * Don’t you wonder, now, which is the one?