AFTER CATHERINE FANSHAWE
COCKNEY ENIGMA ON THE LETTER H
I DWELLS in the Herth and I breathes in the Hair;
If you searches the Hocean you'll find that I'm there;
The first of all Hangels in Holympus am Hi,
Yet I'm banished from 'Eaven, expelled from on 'Igh.
But tho' on this Horb I am destined to grovel,
I'm ne'er seen in an 'Ouse, in an 'Ut, nor an 'Ovel;
Not an 'Oss nor an 'Unter e'er bears me, alas!
But often I'm found on the top of a Hass.
I resides in a Hattic and loves not to roam,
And yet I'm invariably habsent from 'Ome.
Tho' 'ushed in the 'Urricane, of the Hatmosphere part,
I enters no 'Ed, I creeps into no 'Art,
But look and you'll see in the Heye I appear.
Only 'ark and you'll 'ear me just breathe in the Hear;
Tho' in sex not an 'E, I am (strange paradox!),
Not a bit of an 'Effer, but partly a Hox.
Of Heternity Hi'm the beginning! and mark,
Tho' I goes not with Noar, I'm the first in the Hark.
I'm never in 'Elth have with Fysic no power;
I dies in a Month, but comes back in a Hour.
AFTER WORDSWORTH
ON WORDSWORTH
HE lived amidst th' untrodden ways
To Rydal Lake that lead;
A bard whom there was none to praise
And very few to read.
Behind a cloud his mystic sense,
Deep hidden, who can spy?
Bright as the night when not a star
Is shining in the sky.
Unread his works his Milk White Doe"
With dust is dark and dim;
It's still in Longmans' shop, and oh!
The difference to him.
JACOB
HE dwelt among Apartments let,"
About five stories high;
A man, I thought, that none would get,
And very few would try.
A boulder, by a larger stone
Half hidden in the mud,
Fair as a man when only one
Is in the neighborhood.
He lived unknown, and few could tell
When Jacob was not free;
But he has got a wife and O!
The difference to me!
FRAGMENT IN IMITATION OF WORDSWORTH
THERE is a river clear and fair,
'Tis neither broad nor narrow;
It winds a little here and there
It winds about like any hare;
And then it holds as straight a course
As, on the turnpike road, a horse,
Or, through the air, an arrow.
The trees that grow upon the shore
Have grown a hundred years or more;
So long there is no knowing:
Old Daniel Dobson does not know
When first those trees began to grow;
But still they grew, and grew, and grew,
As if they'd nothing else to do,
But ever must be growing.
The impulses of air and sky
Have reared their stately heads so high,
And clothed their boughs with green;
Their leaves the dews of evening quaff,
And when the wind blows loud and keen,
I've seen the jolly timbers laugh,
And shake their sides with merry glee
Wagging their heads in mockery.
Fixed are their feet in solid earth
Where winds can never blow;
But visitings of deeper birth
Have reached their roots below.
For they have gained the river's brink,
And of the living waters drink.
There's little Will, a five years' child
He is my youngest boy;
To look on eyes so fair and wild,
It is a very joy.
He hath conversed with sun and shower,
And dwelt with every idle flower,
As fresh and gay as them.
He loiters with the briar-rose,
The blue-bells are his play-fellows,
That dance upon their slender stem.
And I have said, my little Will,
Why should he not continue still
A thing of Nature's rearing?
A thing beyond the world's control
A living vegetable soul,
No human sorrow fearing.
It were a blessed sight to see
That child become a willow-tree,
His brother trees among.
He'd be four times as tall as me,
And live three times as long.
JANE SMITH
I JOURNEYED, on a winter's day,
Across the lonely wold;
No bird did sing upon the spray,
And it was very cold.
I had a coach with horses four,
Three white (though one was black),
And on they went the common o'er,
Nor swiftness did they lack.
A little girl ran by the side,
And she was pinched and thin.
Oh, please, sir, do give me a ride!
I'm fetching mother's gin."
Enter my coach, sweet child," said I,
For you shall ride with me;
And I will get you your supply
Of mother's eau-de-vie."
The publican was stern and cold,
And said: Her mother's score
Is writ, as you shall soon behold,
Behind the bar-room door!"
I blotted out the score with tears,
And paid the money down;
And took the maid of thirteen years
Back to her mother's town.
And though the past with surges wild
Fond memories may sever,
The vision of that happy child
Will leave my spirits never!
ONLY SEVEN
(A Pastoral Story after Wordsworth)I MARVELLED why a simple child,
That lightly draws its breath,
Should utter groans so very wild,
And look as pale as Death.
Adopting a parental tone,
I ask'd her why she cried;
The damsel answered with a groan,
I've got a pain inside!
I thought it would have sent me mad
Last night about eleven."
Said I, What is it makes you bad?
How many apples have you had?"
She answered, Only seven!"
And are you sure you took no more,
My little maid?" quoth I;
Oh, please, sir, mother gave me four,
But they were in a pie!"
If that's the case," I stammer'd out,
Of course you've had eleven."
The maiden answered with a pout,
I ain't had more nor seven!"
I wonder'd hugely what she meant,
And said, I'm bad at riddles;
But I know where little girls are sent
For telling taradiddles.
Now, if you won't reform," said I,
You'll never go to Heaven."
But all in vain; each time I try,
That little idiot makes reply,
I ain't had more nor seven!"
To borrow Wordsworth's name was wrong,
Or slightly misapplied;
And so I'd better call my song,
Lines after Ache-Inside."
LUCY LAKE
POOR Lucy Lake was overgrown,
But somewhat underbrained.
She did not know enough, I own,
To go in when it rained.
Yet Lucy was constrained to go;
Green bedding, you infer.
Few people knew she died, but oh,
The difference to her!