Rhymes a la Mode

Transcribed from the 1885 Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
BY A. LANG
Hom , c’est une ballade ! Vadius
LONDON KEGAN PAUL , TRENCH & CO MDCCCLXXXV
Many of these verses have appeared in periodicals, English or American, and some were published in an American collection called Ballades and Verses Vain . None of them have previously been put forth in book form in England. The Rondeaux of the Galleries were published in the Magazine of Art , and are reprinted by permission of Messrs. Cassell and Co. (Limited).
TO MRS. ELTON OF WHITE STAUNTON .
The painted Briton built his mound , And left his celts and clay , On yon fair slope of sunlit ground That fronts your garden gay ; The Roman came , he bore the sway , He bullied , bought , and sold , Your fountain sweeps his works away Beside your manor old !
But still his crumbling urns are found Within the window-bay , Where once he listened to the sound That lulls you day by day ;— The sound of summer winds at play , The noise of waters cold To Yarty wandering on their way , Beside your manor old !
The Roman fell : his firm-set bound Became the Saxon’s stay ; The bells made music all around For monks in cloisters grey , Till fled the monks in disarray From their warm chantry’s fold , Old Abbots slumber as they may , Beside your manor old !
Envoy .
Creeds , empires , peoples , all decay , Down into darkness , rolled ; May life that’s fleet be sweet , I pray , Beside your manor old .
In twilight of the longest day I lingered over Lucian, Till ere the dawn a dreamy way My spirit found, untrod of man, Between the green sky and the grey.