Page:Pieces People Ask For.djvu/41

Rh A sweet encyclopædia
 * Of every kind of lore;

And love looked coyly from behind
 * The glasses that she wore.

She sat beside her lover,
 * With her elbow on his knee,

And dreamily she gazed upon
 * The slumbering summer sea.

Until he broke the silence,
 * Saying, "Pray inform me, dear,

What people mean when speaking
 * Of the Thingness of the Here.

"I know you're just from Concord,
 * Where the lights of wisdom be;

Your head crammed full to bursting, love,
 * With their philosophy,—

"Those grave and reverend sages,
 * And maids of hosiery blue.

Then solve me the conundrum, dear,
 * That I have put to you."

The maid replied with gravity,—
 * "The Thingness of the Here

Is that which lies between the past
 * And future time, my dear.

"Indeed," the maid continued, with
 * A calm, unruffled brow,

"The Thingness of the Here is just
 * The Thisness of the Now."

The lover smiled a loving smile,
 * And then he fondly placed

A manly and protecting arm
 * Around the maiden's waist;

And on her rosebud lips impressed
 * A warm and loving kiss,

And said, "That's what I call, my dear,
 * The Nowness of the This."

Geo. Runde Jackson.