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
