The veteran’s skill, youth’s fire, and manhood’s heart of steel?
The following stanza was composed by Bogart within the succeeding ten minutes,—the period fixed in a wager,—finished before his companions had reached a fourth line, and read to them as here presented:[[6]]—
| L ovely and loved, o’er the unconquered | brave |
| Y our charms resistless, matchless girl, shall | reign! |
| D ear as the mother holds her infant’s | grave |
| I n Love’s own region, warm, romantic | Spain! |
| A nd should your fate to court your steps | ordain, |
| K ings would in vain to regal pomp | appeal, |
| A nd lordly bishops kneel to you in | vain, |
| N or valor’s fire, law’s power, nor churchman’s | zeal |
| E ndure ’gainst love’s (time’s up!) untarnished | steel. |
The French also amuse themselves with bouts rimés retournés, in which the rhymes are taken from some piece of poetry, but the order in which they occur is reversed. The following example is from the album of a Parisian lady of literary celebrity, the widow of one of the Crimean heroes. The original poem is by Alfred de Musset, the retournés by Marshal Pelissier, who improvised it at the lady’s request. In the translation which ensues, the reversed rhymes are carefully preserved.
BY DE MUSSET.
Quand la fugitive espérance
Nous pousse le coude en passant,
Puis à tire d’ailes s’élance
Et se retourne en souriant,
Où va l’homme? où son cœur l’appelle;