Page:The Kiss and its History.djvu/49

Rh

Answered a green apple

From its apple tree:

Fool to boast, golden orange,

On the breezy shore;

For happiness such as I've found,

Its like cannot be seen."

Then said the breezy meadow,

As yet untouched by scythe:

Too conceited, little apple,

That speech of thine, meseems,

For happiness such as I've found,

Its like cannot be seen."

Then spake a lovely maiden,

Unsullied by a kiss:

Thou pratest folly, grass-plot,

Instead of sooth, I ween,

For happiness such as I've found

Its like cannot be seen."

But a handsome lad made answer

To every speech they made;

You're mad, all mad, to utter

Such words as I've just heard,

For no one in the universe

Can be so blest as I."

Golden orange by the breezy

Shore I pluck thee now.

Apple, from thy apple tree

To-day I'll shake thee down.

Grass-plot, I'll mow thee level

With my scythe-strokes to-day.

Maiden, as yet unsullied,

To-day I'll kiss thy lips."

W. F. H.