DUET: SONG OF THE TWO CHINA-COLLECTORS.
Sextus.
A love like mine is far above
The thing that we are told is love,
In Shakespeare or in Chaucer.
For while they are content to praise
The famous forms of classic days,
I revel in the form and glaze,
Of one unrivalled saucer.
Virginia.
Ah sir, I know the thought is vain,
Yet if a man were porcelain,
Then love would be the master;
If only in a single night
Your face could change to blue and white,
I think at such a glorious sight
My heart would beat the faster.
Virginia and Sextus.
And such a love were far above
The thing that we are told is love,
In Shakespeare or in Chaucer;
For while they are content to praise
The famous forms of classic days,
We revel in the form and glaze,
Of every cup and saucer.
Sextus.
Ah madam, if that dream were true,
How easy would it be to woo,
And never fear the winning;
If woman also could be graced
With all the silent charms of paste,
Then love could never be misplaced,
And hate have no beginning.
Virginia.
Then every vase would find its mate,
Each dish would woo a neighbouring plate,
Each bowl would wed a beaker;
And if perchance, through pride or pique,
Some youth or maid should fail to speak,
Each bachelor would be unique,
And each old maid uniquer.
Virginia and Sextus.
And such a love were far above
The thing that we are told is love,
In Shakespeare or in Chaucer;
For while they are content to praise
The famous forms of classic days,
We revel in the form and glaze,
Of every cup and saucer.
The following duet bore a charming promise of the maturer work that was to follow in wider spheres.
From The United Pair.
Played at Mr. and Mrs. German Reed’s about 1880.
I.
Ada.
What Love was yesterday, we both could tell;
Jack.
What Love may be to-morrow, who can guess?
Ada.
What Love is now both Jack and I know well;
Jack.
But that’s a secret lovers ne’er confess.
Jack and Ada.
But this we know, that Love is much maligned
By those who call him deaf, and dumb, and blind.
II.
Ada.
Yet Love was dumb: ’tis but an hour ago
I spied him ’mid the daisies as I passed,
Like a pale rose-leaf on new fallen snow
He lay with drooping lids and lips shut fast.
And though the birds sang, Love made no reply,
He had no message for the whispering stream,
He sent no echoing answer to the sky,
That laughed with dancing shadows o’er his dream.
Then kneeling down beside him where he lay,
I wept aloud for grief that Love was dead;
But when Jack came and kissed my tears away,
Love spoke one word: we both heard what he said.
Jack and Ada.
Therefore we say that Love is much maligned,
For he is neither deaf, nor dumb, nor blind.
III.
Jack.
Yet Love was deaf: ’twas only yesterday
I found him fishing down beside the brook,
His rod a snowy branch of flowering may,
Whose spiny thorn he fashioned for a hook.
Small heed had he of any lover’s pain,
Who would not hear the cuckoo’s ringing note,
I cried to him, but cried alas in vain,
He only laughed to watch the dancing float;
And while I wept to see him laughing so,
I heard a voice that whispered one sweet word
Ah Ada, tell me was it “yes” or “no”?
She answered “yes” and then I knew Love heard.
Jack and Ada.
Therefore we say that Love is much maligned,
For he is neither deaf, nor dumb, nor blind.
IV.
Jack and Ada.
Yet Love was blind: for so he lost his way,
And so we found him when the day was done,
Within a wood where happy lovers stray,
There he had wandered weeping and alone.
Then wondering much, we thought to ask his name,
But Love replied: “Ah, surely ye should know!”
And as he spake, beneath his wings of flame
We saw Love’s arrows and his glittering bow,
“For you,” he cried, “the way is strewn with flowers,
You’ve found the path that I shall never find.”
Then looking up we saw Love’s eyes in ours,
And then we knew why men do call him blind.
Therefore we know that Love is much maligned,
By all who call him deaf, and dumb, and blind.