page 20

The Growth of pessimism

I.
I know a girl whose every aspect pleases,
Oil whom my errant fancy swiftly seizes.
Her face is fair, as fair as one might see
When wandering slow through dreamy Aready,
Especially, I have noticed, when she sneezes.
When half my audience simply stares and freezes
She laughs with unfeigned joy a! all my wheezes
And makes me cry aloud with hope and glee
"I know a girl."
Her breath is redolent of scented breezes:
I call her Ann. which short for Anasthese is,
And infinite is her variety;
She knows her Hemans, but besides, e.g.
She knows the market price of eggs and cheeses.
I know a girl.

H.E.E.

April 1st, 1910.

II.
It may be so: it may be good to choose.
And having chosen, venture but to lose,
Ascribing then the failure of the flutter
To rather scanty thoughts on bread and butter
And over-contemplation of the Muse.
A tragic hero! Bid my last adieus
To all her tribe. Bah! could the girl refuse
One such as I, who thoughts like mine can utter?
It may be so.
And yet I have a mind to see the pews
A gleam with merry guests in merry hues.
And hear the saintly petrel's holy mutter.
So, should my lady close to me her shutter,
A future one shall say, with wiser views
"It may be so."

—H.A.W.

April 1st., 1911.