WE

"VIXI PUELLIS."

(RONDEAU OF VILLON.)

E loved of yore, in warfare bold,
Nor laurelless. Now all must go;

Let this left wall of Venus show

The arms, the tuneless lyre of old.

Here let them hang, the torches cold,
The portal-bursting bar, the bow,
We loved of yore.

But thou, who Cyprus sweet dost hold, And Memphis free from Thracian snow, Goddess and queen, with vengeful blow, Smite,-smite but once that pretty scold We loved of yore!

1877.

"WHEN I SAW YOU LAST, ROSE.”

WH

(VILLANELLE.)

HEN I saw you last, Rose,
You were only so high ;—

How fast the time goes!

Like a bud ere it blows,

You just peeped at the sky,

When I saw you last, Rose!

Now your petals unclose,

Now your May-time is nigh;—
How fast the time goes!

And a life,-how it grows!
You were scarcely so shy,
When I saw you last, Rose !

In your bosom it shows
There's a guest on the sly;
(How fast the time goes!)

1877.

Is it Cupid? Who knows!
Yet you used not to sigh,

When I saw you last, Rose ;-
How fast the time goes!

"A

ON A NANKIN PLATE.

(VILLANELLE.)

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,’— Ah 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.