She comes with tripping pace,— A maid I know,—and March winds blow Her hair across her face;— With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, The March winds blow. I watch her go: Her cheek is brown, and soft as down, (To those who see it near!)— With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, What has she not that those have got, The dames that walk in silk! If she undo her kerchief blue, Her neck is white as milk. With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, Let those who will be proud and chill! Her laugh is like a tune; With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, Break, break to hear, O crocus-spear! O tall Lent-lilies flame! There'll be a bride at Easter-tide, And Dolly is her name. With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, Or blooms the eglantine. SONG Austin Dobson [1840 THIS peach is pink with such a pink But where to spy the truest pink The snowdrop, child of windy March, Unenvious praise her brightness! Norman Gale [1862 IN FEBRUARY My Lady's birthday crowns the growing year; I, too, would chant her worth and dare to raise A hymn to what's beyond immortal praise. Go, little verse, and lay in vesture meet Of poesy, my homage at her feet. Henry Simpson [1868 Ballade of My Lady's Beauty MY LOVE LIKE rain-pools over Autumn leaves, The whiteness of her throat; Her movements of the languorous grace Her voice is sweet as silver bells O'er sheets of moonlit snow; Her mouth, a full ripe flower, where dwells The sunset's vermeil glow: Her soul is tender as blue skies A Southern day above; While in her heart all priceless lies The diamond of her love. Robert Adger Bowen [1868 BALLADE OF MY LADY'S BEAUTY SQUIRE ADAM had two wives, they say, He kissed and clypt them all the day, And Lilith, roses dipped in wine, But though they were a goodly sight, No lady is so fair as mine. To Venus some folk tribute pay, And Queen of Beauty she is hight, And Sainte Marie the world doth sway, In cerule napery bedight. My wonderment these twain invite, Their comeliness it is divine; And yet I say in their despite, No lady is so fair as mine. 557 Dame Helen caused a grievous fray, And put their hearts in woeful plight. For her no garlands will I twine; Though she be made of flowers and light, No lady is so fair as mine. L'ENVOI Prince Eros, Lord of lovely might, Who on Olympus doth recline, No lady is so fair as mine. URSULA Joyce Kilmer [1886– I SEE her in the festal warmth to-night, To-morrow she will toil from floor to floor Robert Underwood Johnson [1853 VILLANELLE OF HIS LADY'S TREASURE I TOOK her dainty eyes, as well As silken tendrils of her hair: And so I made a Villanelle! I took her voice, a silver bell, As clear as song, as soft as prayer; I took her dainty eyes as we Song It may be, said I, who can tell, These things shall be my less despair? And so I made a Villanelle! I took her whiteness virginal And from her cheeks two roses rare: I took her dainty eyes as well. I said: "It may be possible Her image from my heart to tear!" And so I made a Villanelle! I stole her laugh, most musical: I wrought it in with artful care; I took her dainty eyes as well; And so I made a Villanelle. SONG 559 Ernest Dowson [1867-1900] LOVE, by that loosened hair Well now I know Where the lost Lilith went So long ago. Love, by those starry eyes I understand How the sea maidens lure Mortals from land. Love, by that welling laugh Joy claims his own Sea-born and wind-wayward Child of the sun. Bliss Carman [1861 SONG O, LIKE a queen's her happy tread, Her woman's heart for me! |