(Villanelle.)
When I first saw Edmée
She was clad all in blue.
A cold colour, you say?
Yes, I thought so, that day,
And my hopes were but few
When I first saw Edmée;
Now, of azure array
I’ve quite altered my view--
A cold colour, you say?
Is the sky cold in May?
How little I knew,
When I first saw Edmée.
All the sweetness there lay
In the shade that means “true!”...
A cold colour, you say?
Ah, my heart’s quite away.
The sad moment I rue
When I first saw Edmée.
A _cold_ colour, you say?...
My Old Coat.
“Sois-moi fidèle, ô pauvre habit que j’aime.”
_Béranger._
Be ever true to me, thou well-loved coat,
For we are growing old together now,
These ten long years I’ve brushed thee every day
Myself; great Socrates the Sage, I trow
Had not done better! And if remorseless Fate
Gnaw with sharp tooth that poor, thin cloth of thine,
Resist, say I, with calm philosophy,
Let us not part, thou dear old friend of mine!
How I recall--(for even now I’m bless’d
With a good memory!), that glad day of days
When first I wore thee! It was at my feast;
My friends to crown my glory, sang thy praise.
Thy poverty and age that honor me
Have not yet made their early love decline--
They’re ready still to feast us once again.
Let us not part, thou dear old friend of mine!
Have I perfumed thee with those floods of musk,
Which the vain fop exhales before his glass?
Have I exposed thee, waiting audience,
To scorn and laughter of the great who pass?
Just for a paltry ribbon, all fair wide France
Was rent apart, but simply I combine
A few sweet wild-flowers for thine ornament.
Let us not part, thou dear old friend of mine!...
Fear nevermore those days of struggling vain,
When the same lowly destiny was ours;
Those days of pleasure intermix’d with pain,
Of sunny sky o’ercast by April showers.
Soon comes the night, for evening shadows fall,
And soon forever must I my coat resign.
Wait yet a little, together we’ll end it all,
And never part, thou dear old friend of mine!...
A Pantoum.
Here I must lie on my bed,
Longing for health again.
Crazy thoughts whirl in my head,
Mix with that endless pain.
Longing for health again--
Dreams of walking once more
Mix with that endless pain.
Lying in bed is a bore!
Dreams of walking once more,
After these months of repression,
Lying in bed is a bore
Past any means of expression!
After these months of repression,
To wander, and study, and revel...
Past any means of expression,
Pain, you’re a villainous devil!
To wander, and study, and revel,
To eat, drink, and live like a man...
(Pain, you’re a villainous devil!...)
With never a doctor to ban--
To eat, drink, and live like a man,
To wander in meadow and wood,
With never a doctor to ban
Those things that I know to be good...
To wander in meadow and wood,
With Someone, enjoying October,
Those things that I know to be good,
The sky, be it sunny or sober.
With Someone, enjoying October,
To see the gay trees and the hills,
The sky, be it sunny or sober,
With a curse on all doctors and pills...
To see the gay trees and the hills,
Hope is quick faded and fled.
With a curse on all doctors and pills,
Here I must lie on my bed!...
When Doris Deigns.
When Doris deigns to gaze on me
All happy thoughts be mine;
Her eyes are two twin stars, I wis,
Bright in my soul they shine;
No earth-born flower one half so fair
As she, no joy can aught compare
With my sweet fire of love, perdie,
When Doris deigns to gaze on me!
When Doris deigns to smile on me
The whole world brighter grows;
A clearer azure takes the sky,
A deeper blush the rose;
The circling lark upon the wing
A sweeter, purer song doth sing,
And just a bit of Heav’n I see,
When Doris deigns to smile on me!