"My Misho! tell me, tell me, pray, Where wert thou wandering yesterday?" "I did not ramble—did not roam; A wretched headache kept me home." "A thousand times I've said, I think No widows love—no water drink! But thou, a thoughtless unbeliever, Wilt water drink, and get a fever; Wilt give to widows thine affection, And find remorse, or find rejection; Now take my counsel,—drink of wine, And be a virgin maiden thine!" S. J. B.
XXXVIII
DESOLATION
Gloomy night! how full thou art of darkness! Thou, my heart! art fuller yet of sorrow, Sorrow which I bear, but cannot utter! I have now no mother who will hear me, I have now no sister who will soothe me,— Yet I had a friend—but he is absent! Ere he comes, the night will be departed; Ere he wakes, the birds will sing their matins, Ere his kiss, the twilight hour will brighten: Go thy way, my friend; the day is dawning! S. J. B.
XXXIX
APPREHENSION
"Sweet maiden mine! thou blushing rose! Sweet, blushing roselet mine! For me, what thought of honey flows From those sweet lips of thine?" 'I dare not speak with thee, my dear, My mother has forbid me.'
"Sweet maid! thy mother is not here." 'She saw me once, and chid me. Sir, she is in the garden there, Plucking the evergreen:— O may her heart like mine decay, Like mine decay unseen,— Ere love's sweet power has pass'd away, As it had never been.' S. J. B.