A Certain Young Lady 705 A CERTAIN YOUNG LADY THERE'S a certain young lady, And full of all mischief, I ween; So teasing! so pleasing! Capricious! delicious! With a stately step-such as You'd expect in a duchess And a brow might distinguish a queen, That says "touch me who dare," With a toss of the head That strikes one quite dead, But a smile to revive one again; That toss so appalling! That smile so enthralling! And you know very well whom I mean. Confound her! de'il take her! A cruel heart-breaker But hold! see that smile so serene. God love her! God bless her! May nothing distress her! You know very well whom I mean. Heaven help the adorer Who happens to bore her, The lover who wakens her spleen; But too blest for a sinner Is he who shall win her, And you know very well whom I mean. Washington Irving [1783-1859] "WHERE BE YOU GOING, YOU DEVON MAID" WHERE be you going, you Devon maid? I love your hills and I love your dales, I'll put your basket all safe in a nook; John Keats [1795-1821] LOVE IN A COTTAGE THEY may talk of love in a cottage, And milkmaids half divine; They may talk of the pleasure of sleeping And a walk in the fields at morning, But give me a sly flirtation. By the light of a chandelier,- And nobody very near; Song of the Milkmaid Or a seat on a silken sofa, With a glass of pure old wine, And mamma too blind to discover The small white hand in mine. Your love in a cottage is hungry, True love is at home on a carpet, His wing is the fan of a lady, His foot's an invisible thing, And his arrow is tipped with a jewel, 707 Nathaniel Parker Willis [1806-1867] SONG OF THE MILKMAID From "Queen Mary" SHAME upon you, Robin, Shame upon you now! Kiss me would you? with my hands Milking the cow? Daisies grow again, Kingcups blow again, And you came and kissed me milking the cow. Robin came behind me, Kissed me well, I vow; Cuff him could I? with my hands Milking the cow? Swallows fly again, Cuckoos cry again, And you came and kissed me milking the cow. Come, Robin, Robin, Come and kiss me now; Help it can I? with my hands Milking the cow? Ringdoves coo again, All things woo again, Come behind and kiss me milking the cow! Alfred Tennyson [1809-1892] "WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO KNOW" I KNOW a girl with teeth of pearl, She lives,-ah well, I must not tell,— Her sunny hair is wondrous fair, Who made it less One little tress, Wouldn't you like to know? Her eyes are blue (celestial hue!) On whom they beam With melting gleam, Wouldn't you like to know? Her lips are red and finely wed, Like roses ere they blow; What lover sips Those dewy lips,— Sing Heigh-Ho!" Her fingers are like lilies fair Whose hand they press Her foot is small, and has a fall And where it goes Beneath the rose, Wouldn't you like to know? She has a name, the sweetest name If I should tell,— Wouldn't you like to know? 709 John Godfrey Saxe [1816-1887] "SING HEIGH-HO!" THERE sits a bird on every tree; There sits a bird on every tree, And courts his love as I do thee; Young maids must marry. There grows a flower on every bough; There grows a flower on every bough, From sea to stream the salmon roam; Sing heigh-ho! From sea to stream the salmon roam; Each finds a mate and leads her home; Sing heigh-ho, and heigh-ho! |