Idyllists of the Country-Side
Love’s Demesne
Meditations on Gout
The Pleasures of the Table
Copyright, 1903,
By Dodd, Mead and Company.
All rights reserved.
Copyright, 1896,
By Dodd, Mead and Company,
as “Love’s Demesne.”
University Press:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.
TO
THE MEMORY OF
GLEESON WHITE, ESQ.
In Friendliest Regard
ENVOY.
RESOUND, ye strains, attuned by master-fingers,
That breathe so fondly Love’s consuming fire;
Some sweet and subtle as a chord that lingers,
Some grave and plaintive as the heart’s desire.
Like June’s gay laughter thro’ the woodlands ringing,
These hymn the Present’s gladsome roundelay;
As Autumn grieves when choirs have ceased their singing,
Those voice their haunting burden, “Well-a-day!”
Yet, past or present, who the power would banish
That charms or blights, that blesses or that mars:
To happy lovers, how may Love e’er vanish,—
To hearts forlorn, how hallowed are his scars!