Classic Poem

Deep! I own I start at shadows,
Listen, I will tell you why;
(Life itself is but a taper,
Casting shadows till we die)

Once, in Italy, at Florence,
I a radiant girl adored:
When she came, she saw, she conquered,
And by Cupid I was floored.

Round my heart her glossy ringlets
Were mysteriously entwined —
And her soft voluptuous glances
All my inmost thoughts divined.

— Mia cara Mandolina!
Are we not, indeed, — I cried,
— All the world to one another? —
Mandolina smiled and sighed.

Earth was Eden, she an angel,
I a Jupiter enshrined —
Till one night I saw a damning
Double shadow on her blind!

— Fire and fury! double shadows
On their bed-room windows ne'er,
To my knowledge, have been cast by
Ladies virtuous and fair.

— False, abandoned, Mandolina!
Fare thee well, for evermore!
Vengeance! — shrieked I, — vengeance! vengeance! —
And I thundered through the door.

This event occurred next morning;
Mandolina staring sat,
Stark amaz'd, as out I tumbled,
Raving mad, without a hat!

Six weeks after I 'd a letter,
On its road six weeks delayed —
With a dozen re-directions
From the lost one, and it said:

— Foolish, wicked, cruel Albert!
Base suspicion's doubts resign;
Double lights throw double shadows!
Mandolina — ever thine. —

— Heavens, what an ass! — I muttered,
— Not before to think of that! — —
And again I rushed excited
To the rail, without a hat.

— Mandolina! Mandolina! —
When her house I reached, I cried:
— Pardon, dearest love! — she answered —
— I'm the Russian Consul's bride! —

Thus, by Muscovite barbarian,
And by Fate, my life was crossed;
Wonder ye I start at shadows?
Types of Mandolina lost.