Page:Once a Week Jul - Dec 1859.pdf/449

438 A paradise where roses climb With music in their leaves; A bower of bliss, all clematis, With swallow-haunted eaves:

Till all the ties, that held so fast The celibate erstwhiles, Are broken by the witchery Of unforgotten smiles.

No after-breakfast stables— No weed at evening hours— But tender nuptial tête-à-têtes, And walks among the flowers.

Oh! Love, young, wayward, wilful Love, So blindly busy there, What wonder manhood waxes weak With maidenhood so fair?

Perish the wild idëal! Perish soft thoughts like these! Let squireen’s stalwart spirit Scorn lover’s Capuan ease!

November’s skies are clouded dun, November’s dead leaves fall; The hound is chafing on the lawn, The hunter in the stall.

The lovesick youth is splendent in A coat of spotless pink; The lovesick youth has ceased to dream, And just begun to think.

And duties, that before were dim, Assert themselves right clear: Shall rivals win the pride of place While I am mooning here?

The scent will linger on the turf, The streaming pack’s full cry Will make the laggart’s pulse leap flame, The coward’s heart beat high.

Stout foxes of the hillside, And did I dare to place In contrast with my love for you That pretty baby-face?

And dared I rank a maiden’s heart Your noble chace above? And barter you for dalliant dreams And thoughts of cottage-love?

Married—and lost—and done for— And stranger hands to guide Old Brownlock tho’ the bullfinch, Young Gaylad o’er the tide:—

Away! the first wide brook may wash The madness from my brain; The first fence tear the fetter loose, And leave me free again.

Thus, thus I vault upon my steed, Thus, thus I break the spell: My love, I fill my flask to thee; My beautiful, farewell!”