"WHEN I SAW YOU LAST, ROSE" WHEN I Saw you last, Rose, You were only so high;- Like a bud ere it blows, Now your petals unclose, And a life, how it grows! In your bosom it shows Is it Cupid? Who knows! How fast the time goes! Austin Dobson [1840 URCEUS EXIT I INTENDED an Ode, And it turned to a Sonnet. It began à la mode, I intended an Ode; But Rose crossed the road In her latest new bonnet; I intended an Ode; And it turned to a Sonnet. THIS kiss upon your fan I press Ah! Sainte Nitouche, you don't refuse it! And may it from its soft recess― This kiss upon your fan I press→→→→ By this white down, whene'er you use it. Ah, Sainte Nitouche, you don't refuse it! FROM THE FRENCH OF FRANÇOIS VILLON 1450 TELL me now in what hidden way is *For the original of this poem see page 3837. Where is Echo, beheld of no man, Only heard on river and merc, She whose beauty was more than human? . But where are the snows of yester-year? Where's Héloise, the learned nun, For whose sake Abeilard, I ween, Lost manhood and put priesthood on? And where, I pray you, is the Queen Who willed that Buridan should steer ... Sewed in a sack's mouth down the Seine? . . . But where are the snows of yester-year? White Queen Blanche, like a queen of lilies, And Ermengarde the lady of Maine,—- Nay, never ask this week, fair lord, Where they are gone, nor yet this year, Except with this for an overword, But where are the snows of yester-year? Dante Gabriel Rossetti [1828-1882] BALLADE OF DEAD LADIES AFTER VILLON NAY, tell me now in what strange air A Ballad of Dead Ladies Where is wise Héloïse, that care Afloat down Scine, a perilous way— Where's that White Queen, a lily rare, 1785 ENVOY Prince, all this week thou needst not pray, "Nay, but where is the last year's snow?" Andrew Lang [(1844-1912] A BALLAD OF DEAD LADIES AFTER VILLON From "If I Were King" I WONDER in what Isle of Bliss Apollo's music fills the air; In what green valley Artemis For young Endymion spreads the snare: The Wind has blown them all away And Pan lies piping in his lair Where are the Gods of Yesterday? Say where the great Semiramis Sleeps in a rose-red tomb; and where The precious dust of Caesar is, Or Cleopatra's yellow hair: Where Alexander Do-and-Dare; The Wind his blown them all awayAnd Redbeard of the Iron Chair; Where are the Dreams of Yesterday? Where is the Queen of Herod's kiss, ENVOY Alas for lovers! Pair by pair The Wind has blown them all away: The young and yare, the fond and fair: Where are the Snows of Yesterday? Justin Huntly McCarthy [1860 IF I WERE KING AFTER VILLON From "If I Were King" ALL French folk, whereso'er ye be, Who love your country, sail and sand, From Paris to the Breton sea, And back again to Norman strand, Forsooth ye seem a silly band, Sheep without shepherd, left to chanceFar otherwise our Fatherland, If Villon were the King of France! |