Ay, ’twas here, on this spot,
In that summer of yore,
Atalanta did not
Vote my presence a bore,
Nor reply to my tenderest talk “She had heard all that nonsense before.”
She’d the brooch I had bought
And the necklace and sash on,
And her heart, as I thought,
Was alive to my passion;
And she’d done up her hair in the style that the Empress had brought into fashion.
I had been to the play
With my pearl of a Peri—
But, for all I could say,
She declared she was weary,
That “the place was so crowded and hot, and she couldn’t abide that Dundreary.”
Then I thought “Lucky boy!
’Tis for you that she whimpers!”
And I noted with joy
Those sensational simpers:
And I said “This is scrumptious!”—a phrase I had learned from the Devonshire shrimpers.
And I vowed “’Twill be said
I’m a fortunate fellow,
When the breakfast is spread,
When the topers are mellow,
When the foam of the bride-cake is white, and the fierce orange-blossoms are yellow!”
O that languishing yawn!
O those eloquent eyes!
I was drunk with the dawn
Of a splendid surmise—
I was stung by a look, I was slain by a tear, by a tempest of sighs.
variantThen I whispered “I see
The sweet secret thou keepest,
And the yearning for ME
That thou wistfully weepest!
And the question is ‘License or Banns?’, though undoubtedly Banns are the cheapest.”
In the early editions of Rhyme? and Reason? this verse is:
And I whispered “’Tis time!
Is not Love at its deepest?
Shall we squander Life’s prime,
While thou waitest and weepest?
Let us settle it, License or Banns?—though undoubtedly Banns are the cheapest.”
In Punch and Phantasmagoria is is:
And I whispered “I guess
The sweet secret thou keepest,
And the dainty distress
That thou wistfully weepest;
And the question is ‘License or banns?’ though undoubtedly banns are the cheapest.”
In Punch the first line starts with “And I murmured …”.
“Be my Hero,” said I,
“And let me be Leander!”
But I lost her reply—
Something ending with “gander”—
For the omnibus rattled so loud that no mortal could quite understand her.