Page:The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima Edition, Volume 8, 1922.djvu/488

NEW POEMS Up to the measure of your will,

Beyond all power of mine to say—

As she and I desire you still,

Miss Cornish, on your natal day.

CVII

TO ROSABELLE

HEN my young lady has grown great and staid,

And in long raiment wondrously arrayed,

She may take pleasure with a smile to know

How she delighted men-folk long ago.

For her long after, then, this tale I tell

Of the two fans and fairy Rosabelle.

Hot was the day; her weary sire and I

Sat in our chairs companionably nigh,

Each with a headache sat her sire and I.

Instant the hostess waked: she viewed the scene,

Divined the giants' languor by their mien,

And ... with hospitable care

Tackles at once an Atlantean chair.

Her pigmy stature scarce attained the seat—

She dragged it where she would, and with her feet

Surmounted; thence, a Phaeton launched, she crowned

The vast plateau of the piano, found

And culled a pair of fans; wherewith equipped,

Our mountaineer back to the level slipped;

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