MOVING.
(A Suburban Elegy.)
When I remember I shall tread no more
In such a short time now the well-known street,
And never to these ears shall sound the roar
Of Perkins' cart-wheels, dangerously fleet,
Bringing the boon of Ceres to the door,
Nor those of Batson (Batson is the meat);—
When I recall that in the hours to come
My eyes may never see the shape of Pott
Planting his fish down, then methinks it's rum
That mortal men should move and be forgot
By those that serve their household daily, some
Sending the right delivery, some not.
Full often on my homeward way I pause
Where Jones is standing at his shop-front trim;
We pass remarks about the nation's laws
And how it still keeps up, though skies are grim;
And Jones is most polite to me, because
We've always got our groceries from him.
But the old orders soon shall cease to be,
And I must pass into an unknown land,
And at the corner by The Holly Tree
Where now he lifts a ceremonious hand
Yon constable shall scarce remember me,
Not that he ever——Quite. You understand.
And alien lips from mine must move to swear
Over the mangled remnants of a shirt
Brutally done to death with fiendish care
By yon steam laundry. Last I come to Bert;
Bert's is the best known face in all the Square,
Being the milk, and something more—a flirt.
Yes, for not only bleeds this heart of mine;
There shall be tenderer spasms when we shift,
Such bits of cheek, such observations fine,
Such honied whispers have been heard to drift
From Susan at the casement of her shrine
To Romeo managing the tradesmen's lift.
Hers shall be all the loss; he'll soon forget.
Others shall ope accounts when we are gone;
Movings are all too frequent for regret;
Yet one methinks there is shall dream upon
Our name with soft remembrance, guard it yet
Like some pressed violet. I refer to John.
I know our postal service, know full well,
Though we have told them to what bourn we flit,
How many a missive shall obey the spell
Of the old false address inscribed on it.
And John shall bring them. And John's heart shall swell
For Harriet while he stuffs them through the slit.
Evoe.