Poem: The Poet's Bride: Her Answer by Anonymous

The glory of a summer night
   Was in the sky above,
When by the moon's soft silvern light
   I told my sweet my love.
"Dear maid, a love for thee I bear
   Far deeper than the sea --
More boundless than the ambient air
   In its immensity.

"I prithee put me to the test --
   How may thy heart be won --
Send me on some knight-errant quest
   To stars, or moon, or sun.
I'll seek the lion in his den,
   The tiger in his lair,
And bring their skins as trophies then
   To robe thy figure fair.

"I'll plunge me in the ocean deep,
   Where sunbeams never shine;
Into the coral caves I'll creep,
   Where octopuses twine,
And wrest bright jewels from their care,
   The pearls that women prize,
To add their lustre to thy hair
   And pale before thine eyes.

"And Mother Earth's bright golden store
   I'll reave from her embrace,
And gladly all the Midas store
   I at thy feet will place.
By argosies with every breeze
   Thy wants shall be supplied.
And gold, and gem, and diadem
   Shall deck the Poet's Bride!"

I ceased my song. With unshed tears
   Her eyes of azure dimmed,
As though she saw the future years
   My loving fancy limned.
I marked her blush -- I almost heard
   Her heart's fond pit-a-pats.
Ye gods! How all my pulses strred
   To hear her murmur - "Rats!"

First published in Melbourne Punch, 10 December 1907

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This page contains a single entry by Perry Middlemiss published on August 25, 2007 10:41 AM.

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