Works

I sit before the firelight's glow
With all the world in apogee,
And con good Master Florio
With pipe a-light; and as I see
Queen Bess herself with book a-knee,
Reading it o'er and o'er again,...

[PARIS, 1896]


Oh, damsel fair at the Porte Maillot,
With the soft blue eyes that haunt me so,
Pray what should I do
When a girl like you
Bestows her smile, her glance, and her sigh...

All on a golden summer day,
As through the leaves a single ray
Of yellow sunshine finds its way
So bright, so bright;
The wakened birds that blithely sing
Seem welcoming another spring;...

Poet, my master, come, tell me true,
And how are your verses made?
Ah! that is the easiest thing to do: -
You take a cloud of a silvern hue,
A tender smile or a sprig of rue,...

At Marliave's when eventide
Finds rare companions at my side,
The laughter of each merry guest
At quaint conceit, or kindly jest,
Makes golden moments swiftly glide.
No voice unkind our faults to chide,...

At twilight time when tolls the chime,
And saddest notes are falling,
A lonely bird with plaintive word
Across the dusk is calling.
Vain doth it wait for one dear mate,
That ne'er shall know the morrow;...

This is a valentine for you.
Mother made it. She's real smart,
I told her that I loved you true
And you were my sweetheart.

And then she smiled, and then she winked,
And then she said to father,...

Of all the joys on earth that be
There is no sweeter one to me
Than sitting with a merry lass
From consomm' to demi-tasse.

And yet a golden hour I'd steal,
Reverse the order of the meal,...

I send,
O sweetest friend,
A kiss;
Such as fair ladies gave
Of old, when knights were brave,
And smiles were won
Through foes undone.
And this will be
For you to give again to me;...

Sweet Phyllis went a-rambling here and there,
Here and there.
Her eyes were blue and golden was her hair.
She said, "Oh, life is strange;
I'm sure I need a change;...

When faltering fingers bid me cease to write,
And, laying down the pen, I seek the Night,
May those, to whom the Daylight still is sweet,
With loving lips my name ofttimes repeat....

[To M.]


With brilliant friends surrounding me,
So cosy at the Club I'm sitting;
While you at home I seem to see,
Attending strictly to your knitting.
...

Thou art to me
As are soft breezes to a summer sea;
As stars unto the night;
Or when the day is born,
As sunrise to the morn;
As peace unto the fading of the light.

Thou art to me...

Lyke some choise booke thou arte toe mee,
Bound all so daintilie;
And 'neath the covers faire
Are contents true and rare.
Ne wolde I looke
Ne reade inne any other booke...

If I were but a syndicate,
And love were merchandise,
I'd buy it at the market rate,
And hold it for a rise.

And should the price of all this love
Bound upward like a ball,...

Were I a murm'ring ocean shell
Pressed close against your ear,
My constant whisperings would tell
A story sweet to hear.
I'd make the message from the sea
Love's tidings on the shore,...

Take all the love that e'er was told
Since first the world began,
Increase it twenty thousand-fold
(If mathematics can),
Add all the love the world shall see
Till Gabriel's final call,...

(After Henri Murger)

Though I love many maidens fair
As fondly as a heart may dare,
Yet still are you the only one
True goddess of my pantheon.

And though my life is like a song,...

I send you two kisses
Wrapped up in a rhyme;
From Love's warm abysses
I send you two kisses;
If one of them misses
Please wait till next time,
And I'll send you three kisses...

Were all the world like you, my dear,
Were all the world like you,
Oh, there'd be darts in all our hearts
From sunset to the dew.
For life would be Love's jubilee
Where all were two and two,...