Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/133

THE DIAMOND WEDDING Ring! ring, merry bells, ring!

O fortunate few,

With letters blue,

Good for a seat and a nearer view!

Fortunate few, whom I dare not name;

''Dilettanti! Crême de la creme!''

We commoners stood by the street façade

And caught a glimpse of the cavalcade;

We saw the bride

In diamonded pride,

With jewelled maidens to guard her side,—

Six lustrous maidens in tarletan.

She led the van of the caravan;

Close behind her, her mother

(Dressed in gorgeous moire antique,

That told, as plainly as words could speak,

She was more antique than the other,)

Leaned on the arm of Don Rataplan

Santa Claus de la Muscovado

Señor Grandisimo Bastinado.

Happy mortal! fortunate man!

And Marquis of El Dorado!

In they swept, all riches and grace,

Silks and satins, jewels and lace;

In they swept from the dazzled sun,

And soon in the church the deed was done.

Three prelates stood on the chancel high:

A knot that gold and silver can buy

Gold and silver may yet untie,

Unless it is tightly fastened;

What 's worth doing at all 's worth doing well,

And the sale of a young Manhattan belle

Is not to be pushed or hastened;

So two Very-Reverends graced the scene,

And the tall Archbishop stood between,

By prayer and fasting chastened. 103