LOVE AND SCIENCE
(The Sphygmophon is an apparatus connected with the telephone, by the help of which the movements of the pulse and heart may be rendered audible)
I WANDERED by the brookside,
I wandered by the mill;
The Sphygmophon was fixed there,
Its wires ran past the hill.
I heeded not the grasshopper,
Nor chirp of any bird,
For the beating of my own heart
Was all the sound I heard.
To test his apparatus,
One end I closely press'd,
The other at a distance,
I hoped was next his chest.
I listened for his footfall,
I listened for his word,
Still the bumping of my own heart
Was all the sound I heard.
He came not, no he came not,
The night came on alone;
And thinking he had tricked me,
The evening air passed by my cheek,
The leaves above were stirred,
When—the thumping of his own heart
Was all the sound I heard.
With joy I grasped the magnet,
When some one stood behind,
His hand was on my shoulder
(But that I did not mind).
Each spoke then—nearer—nearer,
We shouted every word;
But the booming of our own hearts
Was all the sound we heard.
Anonymous.