Immorality, An

Sing we for love and idleness,
Naught else is worth the having.
Though I have been in many a land,
There is naught else in living.

And I would rather have my sweet,
Though rose-leaves die of grieving,
Than do high deeds in Hungary
To pass all men's believing.

Love-Joy

As on a window late I cast mine eye,
I saw a vine drop grapes with J and C
Annealed on every bunch. One standing by
Asked what it meant. I (who am never loath
To spend my judgement) said, It seemed to me
To be the body and the letters both
Of Joy and Charity . Sir, you have not missed,
The man replied; it figures JESUS CHRIST .

Elegy on Mr. William Smith

A SCEND , my Muse, on sorrow's sable plume,
Let the soft number meet the swelling sigh;
With laureated chaplets deck the tomb,
The blood-stained tomb where Smith and comfort lie.

I loved him with a brother's ardent love,
Beyond the love which tenderest brothers bear;
Though savage kindred bosoms cannot move,
Friendship shall deck his urn and pay the tear.

Despised, an alien to thy father's breast,
Thy ready services repaid with hate;
By brother, father, sisters, all distressed,

Integer Vitae. . .: Herrick and Horace Rewrite the Latter's 22nd Ode, Book 1 -

H ERRICK and H ORACE Rewrite the Latter's 22nd Ode, Book I.

Fuscus, dear friend,
I prithee lend
An ear for but a space,
And thou shalt see
How Love may be
A more than saving grace.

As on a day
I chanced to stray
Beyond my own confines
Singing, perdie,
Of Lalage
Whose smile no star outshines —

Malay Love-song, A: P.B. Shelley and Laurence Hope Meet in a Pantoum -

P. B. S HELLEY and L AURENCE Hope Meet in a Pantoum .

I swoon, I sink, I fall —
Your beauty overpowers me;
I am a prey to all
The yearning that devours me.

Your beauty overpowers me —
It never gives me rest;
The yearning that devours me
Is loud within my breast.

It never gives me rest.
And tho' a wilder ringing
Is loud within my breast,

Passionate Aesthete to His Love, The: Andrew Lang and Oscar Wilde Turn a Nursery Rhyme into a Rondeau Redouble -

A NDREW Lang and O SCAR W ILDE Turn a Nursery Rhyme into a Rondeau Redouble .

Curly locks, Curly locks, wilt thou be mine?
Thou shalt not wash dishes nor yet feed the swine,
But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam,
And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream.

Curly-locks, Curly-locks, brighten and beam
Joyous assent with a rapturous sign;
Hasten the Vision — quicken the Dream —
Curly-locks, Curly-locks, wilt thou be mine?

Poet Betrayed, The: Heinrich Heine and Clinton Scollard Construct a Rondeau -

H EINRICH H EINE and C LINTON S COLLARD Construct a Rondeau.

Immortal eyes, why do they never die?
They come between me and the cheerful sky
And take the place of every sphinx-like star.
They haunt me always, always; and they mar
The comfort of my sleek tranquility.

In dreams you lean your cheek on mine and sigh;
And all the old, caressing words float by.
They haunt me always, always; yet they are
Immortal lies.

2. The Contest of Song and Love -


The Landgrave's gilded hall was all bedecked
In preparation for the minstrel knights
Who would contest in skill upon the harp.
Though named were all contestants long before,
Tannhauser's name was added to the list
In recognition of his marvelous skill
And, too, in honor of his coming home.
Before the minstrel hour the princess, fair
Elizabeth, came in the hall to feast
Her eyes upon the place where, long before,
Tannhauser's harp and voice awoke her heart
To such fond sympathy and ardent love.

Love is Dead -

Ring out your belles, let mourning shewes be spread;
For Loue is dead:
All Loue is dead, infected
With plague of deep disdaine:
Worth, as nought worth, reiected,
And Faith faire scorne doth gaine.
From so vngrateful fancie,
From such a femall franzie,
From them that vse men thus,
Good Lord, deliuer us!

Weepe, neighbours, weepe; do you not heare it said
That Loue is dead?
His death-bed, peacock's follie;
His winding-sheete is shame;
His will, false-seeming holie;
His sole exec'tour, blame.

Love -

In a field full fayer of flowers,
Where the Muses made their bowers,
And more sweeter hony grew
Then the sence of Nature knew,
Preevie sweete with hartsease springing,
While sweete Philomel was singing,
Coridon and Phillis fayer
Went abroad to take the ayer —
Each in absence long diseased,
But in presence either pleased —
Where begun their pritle pratle,
Ther was prety title tatle.
" Coridon," quoth she, " a tryall
Must, in truth, haue no deniall,"
" True," quoth he; and then he proued,

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