Long with vow and kiss he plied her;
Still the secret did she keep,
Till at length he sank beside her,
Seemed as he had dropped to sleep.
Soon was Helen laid in slumber,
When her Paris, rising slow,
Did his fair neck disencumber
From her rounded arms of snow.
Then, her heedless fingers oping,
Takes the key and steals away,
To the ebon table groping,
Where the wondrous casket lay;
Eagerly the lid uncloses,
Sees within it, laid aslope,
Pears’ Liquid Bloom of Roses,
Cakes of his Transparent Soap!
A Warning.
Lose thou no time! A grave and solemn warning,
Yet seldom ta’en, to man’s eternal cost.
Night wanes, day lessens, evening, noon, and morning
Flit by unseen, and yet much time is lost.
And why? Are moments useless as the vapour
That rises from the lamp’s extinguish’d flame!
Why do we, like the moth around the taper,
Sport with the fire that must consume our frame?
Be wise in time! Arouse thee, oh thou sleeper,
Account thy moments dearer than thy gold;
While time thou hast, appoint a good time-keeper
To treasure up thine hours till thou art old.
Lose but this chance, and thou art lost for ever,—
Seek him who keeps a watch for sinking souls—
Ask for Cox Savory’s Horizontal Lever,
With double case, and jewell’d in four holes!