And it's O for the sea and the sky!
And it's O for the boat and the bay!
For the white foam whirling by,
And the sharp, salt edge of the spray!
For the wharf where the black nets fry,
And the wrack and the oarweed sway!
For the stroll when the moon is high
To the nook by the Flag-house gray!
For the risus ab angulo shy
From the Some-one we designate "Di!"
For the moment of silence,-the sigh!
"How I dote on a Moon!" "So do I!"
For the token we snatch on the sly
(With nobody there to say Fie!)
Hurrah! for the sea and the sky!
So Phillis, the fawn-footed, hie
For a hansom. Ere close of the day
Between us a "world" must lie,-
Good-bye to the Town!-GOOD-BYE!
Hurrah! for the sea and the sky!
Austin Dobson.
[Burlesques, Pasquinades, etc., in Ballade, Chant Royal, Rondeau, and Villanelle forms.]
If an apology seem needful for the presence of this section, this quotation will explain why it was included:-
"We maintain that far from converting virtue into a paradox, and degrading truth by ridicule, Parody will only strike at what is chimerical and false; it is not a piece of buffoonery so much as a critical exposition."
Isaac D'Israeli.