Is it Cupid ? Who knows !
Yet you used not to sigh,
When I saw you last, Rose ;-
How fast the time goes !

1877.

ON A NANKIN PLATE.

(VILLANELLE.)

"A

H me, but it might have been !

Was there ever so dismal a fate ? "_ Quoth the little blue mandarin.

“ Such a maid as was never seen ! She passed, tho' I cried to her 'Wait,'Ab me, but it might have been!

“I cried, 'O my Flower, my Queen, Be mine !' 'Twas precipitate,”– Quoth the little blue mandarin,

“ But then . . she was just sixteen,-
Long-eyed, -as a lily straight,-
Ah me, but it might have been !

“ As it was, from her palankeen, She laughed—'You're a week too late !"" (Quoth the little blue mandarin.)

Q

“That is why, in a mist of spleen,
I mourn on this Nankin Plate.
Ah me, but it might have been !"-
Quoth the little blue mandarin,

1881.

FOR A COPY OF THEOCRITUS.

(VILLANELLE.)

O SINGER of the field and folds

THEOCRITUS! Pan's pipe was thine,Thine was the happier Age of Gold.

For thee the scent of new-turned mould,
The bee-hives, and the murmuring pine,
O Singer of the field and fold !

Thou sang'st the simple feasts of old, -
The beechen bowl made glad with wine . .
Thine was the happier Age of Gold.

Thou bad'st the rustic loves be told,
Thou bad'st the tuneful reeds combine,
O Singer of the field and fold !

And round thee, ever-laughing, rolled
The blithe and blue Sicilian brine ..
Thine was the happier Age of Gold.

Alas for us! Our songs are cold ;
Our Northern suns too sadly shine :
O Singer of the field and fold,
Thine was the happier Age of Gold !

1880.