C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
My Neighbor Rose
By Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821–1895)
T
No word has passed from either side.
Your days, red-lettered all, must glide
Unvexed by labor:
I’ve seen you weep, and could have wept;
I’ve heard you sing, and may have slept;
Sometimes I hear your chimneys swept,
My charming neighbor!
The pup, once eloquent of tail?
I wonder why your nightingale
Is mute at sunset!
Your puss, demure and pensive, seems
Too fat to mouse. She much esteems
Yon sunny wall—and sleeps and dreams
Of mice she once ate.
Frail jars, turquoise and celadon,
The ‘Wedding March’ of Mendelssohn,
And ‘Penseroso.’
When sorely tempted to purloin
Your pietà of Marc Antoine,
Fair Virtue doth fair play enjoin,
Fair Virtuoso!
Will kiss my lips, and stir your blind,
And whisper low, “She hides behind:
Thou art not lonely.”
The tricksy sprite did erst assist
At hushed Verona’s moonlight tryst;
Sweet Capulet! thou wert not kissed
By light winds only.
When two long braids of hair you wore
And chat botté was wondered o’er
In corner cosy.
But gaze not back for tales like those:
’Tis all in order, I suppose;
The Bud is now a blooming Rose,—
A rosy posy!
How wonderful the change appears,—
For curates now and cavaliers
In turn perplex you;
The last are birds of feather gay,
Who swear the first are birds of prey:
I’d scare them all, had I my way,
But that might vex you.
That joyous hero, twenty-two,
Who sent bouquets and billets-doux,
And wore a sabre.
The rogue! how tenderly he wound
His arm round one who never frowned:
He loves you well. Now, is he bound
To love my neighbor?
White favors fascinate the street;
Sweet faces greet me, rueful-sweet,
’Twixt tears and laughter;
They crowd the door to see her go:
The bliss of one brings many woe,—
Oh! kiss the bride, and I will throw
The old shoe after.
My charming neighbor gone,—so soon!
Is yon pale orb her honey-moon
Slow rising hither?
O lady, wan and marvelous,
How often have we communed thus:
Sweet memories shall dwell with us,
And joy go with her!