The Cushion Dance.
For the Table Book.
“Saltabamus.”
The village-green is clear and dight
Under the starlight sky;
Joy in the cottage reigns to night,
And brightens every eye:
The peasants of the valley meet
Their labours to advance,
And many a lip invites a treat
To celebrate the “Cushion Dance.”
A pillow in the room they hide,
The door they slily lock;
The bold the bashful damsels chide,
Whose heart’s-pulse seem to rock:
“Escape?”—“Not yet!—no key is found!”—
“Of course, ’tis lost by chance;”—
And flutt’ring whispers breathe around
“The Cushion Dance!—The Cushion Dance!”
The fiddler in a corner stands,
He gives, he rules the game;
A rustic takes a maiden’s hands
Whose cheek is red with shame:
At custom’s shrine they seal their truth,
Love fails not here to glance;—
Happy the heart that beats in youth,
And dances in the “Cushion Dance!”
The pillow’s carried round and round,
The fiddler speaks and plays;
The choice is made,—the charm is wound,
And parleys conquer nays:—
“For shame! I will not thus be kiss’d,
Your beard cuts like a lance;
Leave off—I’m sure you’ve sprained my wrist
By kneeling in this ‘Cushion Dance!’”
“’Tis aunt’s turn,—what in tears?—I thought
You dearly loved a joke;
Kisses are sweeter stol’n than bought,
And vows are sometimes broke.
Play up!—play up!—aunt chooses Ben;
Ben loves so sweet a trance!
Robin to Nelly kneels again,
—Is Love not in the ‘Cushion dance?’”
Laughter is busy at the heart,
Cupid looks through the eye,
Feeling is dear when sorrows part
And plaintive comfort’s nigh,
“Hide not in corners, Betsy, pray,”
“Do not so colt-like prance;
One kiss, for memory’s future day,
—Is Life not like a ‘Cushion Dance?’”
“This Dance it will no further go!”
“Why say you thus, good man?”
“Joan Sanderson will not come to!”
“She must,—’tis ‘Custom’s’ plan:”
“Whether she will or no, must she
The proper course advance;
Blushes, like blossoms on a tree,
Are lovely in the ‘Cushion Dance.’”