Seeing thee gaze into the night,
I would I were the yonder skies,
That tenderly, dear love, I might
Behold thee with a myriad eyes.
In the collection before us, there are two Latin poems, showing that the
young poet was quite as felicitous at Latin composition as in
versification in his native tongue. One of these poems is entitled “De
Consuetudine et de Gustibus,” and treats in hexameter the evils of
political methods at that time (1859). The other is a rollicking song
which (a foot-note explains) was sung at the junior class supper at Ann
Arbor, May 14, 1854. We give a specimen stanza:—
“Nicyllam bellis oculis—
(Videre est amare)
Carminibus et poculis,
Tra la la, tra la la,
Me placet propinare;
Tra la la, tra la la—
Me placet propinare!”
In 1855 the following poem appeared anonymously in “The Ann Arbor News,”
and at once elicited general attention. N. P. Willis wrote out from New
York to the editor of the “News,” asking the name of the author; and to
this inquiry the editor answered, “A young barrister of this village,
named Thomas M. Cooley.”