A Legend of the Divorce Court

I

T UDERLEY woodlands breezy and bright
Were alive with the windflower and harebell blue,
Were sprinkled with marvellous shadow and light,
When I went thither to woo.

II

Well I remember those days of yore,
Those still sweet days that can never again
Come up from Dreamland's silent shore,
Though I long for them in vain.

III

O the tender blue in Amy's eyes,
Where the love-light glittered, soft and modest!
And I see her form before me rise,
So delicately bodiced.

IV

And the crescent moon in the sky is faint,
And the sunset-flags in the west unfurl,
And she trips by my side, a maiden, a saint,
All my own — that fair young girl.

V

How the old bells rang in that gray church tower,
And every cloud from the heavens had fled —
'Twas of sweet spring days the very flower
When Amy and I were wed.

VI

Why should I think of the honeymoon,
Of the vague red cliffs and the bright blue sea?
O I drank the wine of my life that June,
When the wind on the sands blew free —

VII

When the seagull dipt and the white sail glittered,
And my gay girl-wife on the sands would sing,
And never a thought of care embittered
My days with that sweet young thing.

VIII

Well, it's over now. We didn't agree.
I like ecarte . I'm fond of pool.
A man can't die of that curst ennui
With a pretty little fool.

IX

Her modiste's bills were large, I thought.
I hated her mother, a sour old girl;
And said, perhaps, what I hadn't ought
Of her stiff old uncle, the Earl.

X

And the devil-black eyes of little Lorette
Made rather a fool of me, that I allow.
And I went out to supper, and got into debt,
And at last came a deuce of a row.

XI

Well, thanks to Sir Cresswell Cresswell, we,
Who were man and wife, are severed again.
It's an easy business now, you see
* * * Jack, another glass of champagne.
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