the home book of verse-4-第6部分
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
Whipping; to him; was a barbarous rule;
And too hard work for his poor old bones;
Besides; it was painful; he sometimes said:
〃We should make life pleasant; down here below;
The living need charity more than the dead;〃
Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。
He lived in the house by the hawthorn lane;
With roses and woodbine over the door;
His rooms were quiet; and neat; and plain;
But a spirit of comfort there held reign;
And made him forget he was old and poor;
〃I need so little;〃 he often said;
〃And my friends and relatives here below
Won't litigate over me when I am dead;〃
Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。
But the pleasantest times that he had; of all;
Were the sociable hours he used to pass;
With his chair tipped back to a neighbor's wall;
Making an unceremonious call;
Over a pipe and a friendly glass:
This was the finest picture; he said;
Of the many he tasted; here below;
〃Who has no cronies; had better be dead!〃
Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。
Then the jolly old pedagogue's wrinkled face
Melted all over in sunshiny smiles;
He stirred his glass with an old…school grace;
Chuckled; and sipped; and prattled apace;
Till the house grew merry; from cellar to tiles:
〃I'm a pretty old man;〃 he gently said;
〃I've lingered a long while; here below;
But my heart is fresh; if my youth is fled!〃
Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。
He smoked his pipe in the balmy air;
Every night when the sun went down;
While the soft wind played in his silvery hair;
Leaving its tenderest kisses there;
On the jolly old pedagogue's jolly old crown:
And; feeling the kisses; he smiled and said;
'Twas a glorious world; down here below;
〃Why wait for happiness till we are dead?〃
Said the jolly old pedagogue; long ago。
He sat at his door; one midsummer night;
After the sun had sunk in the west;
And the lingering beams of golden light
Made his kindly old face look warm and bright;
While the odorous night…wind whispered 〃Rest!〃
Gently; gently; he bowed his head。 。 。 。
There were angels waiting for him; I know;
He was sure of happiness; living or dead;
This jolly old pedagogue; long ago!
George Arnold '1834…1865'
ON AN INTAGLIO HEAD OF MINERVA
Beneath the warrior's helm; behold
The flowing tresses of the woman!
Minerva; Pallas; what you will …
A winsome creature; Greek or Roman。
Minerva? No! 'tis some sly minx
In cousin's helmet masquerading;
If not … then Wisdom was a dame
For sonnets and for serenading!
I thought the goddess cold; austere;
Not made for love's despairs and blisses:
Did Pallas wear her hair like that?
Was Wisdom's mouth so shaped for kisses?
The Nightingale should be her bird;
And not the Owl; big…eyed and solemn:
How very fresh she looks; and yet
She's older far than Trajan's Column!
The magic hand that carved this face;
And set this vine…work round it running;
Perhaps ere mighty Phidias wrought;
Had lost its subtle skill and cunning。
Who was he? Was he glad or sad;
Who knew to carve in such a fashion?
Perchance he graved the dainty head
For some brown girl that scorned his passion。
Perchance; in some still garden…place;
Where neither fount nor tree to…day is;
He flung the jewel at the feet
Of Phryne; or perhaps 'twas Lais。
But he is dust; we may not know
His happy or unhappy story:
Nameless; and dead these centuries;
His work outlives him; … there's his glory!
Both man and jewel lay in earth
Beneath a lava…buried city;
The countless summers came and went;
With neither haste; nor hate; nor pity。
Years blotted out the man; but left
The jewel fresh as any blossom;
Till some Visconti dug it up; …
To rise and fall on Mabel's bosom!
O nameless brother! see how Time
Your gracious handiwork has guarded:
See how your loving; patient art
Has come; at last; to be rewarded。
Who would not suffer slights of men;
And pangs of hopeless passion also;
To have his carven agate…stone
On such a bosom rise and fall so!
Thomas Bailey Aldrich '1837…1907'
THALIA
A Middle…aged Lyrical Poet Is supposed To Be Taking
Final Leave Of The Muse Of Comedy。 She Has Brought
Him His Hat And Gloves; And Is Abstractedly Picking
A Thread Of Gold Hair From His Coat Sleeve As He
Begins To Speak:
I say it under the rose …
oh; thanks! … yes; under the laurel;
We part lovers; not foes;
we are not going to quarrel。
We have too long been friends
on foot and in gilded coaches;
Now that the whole thing ends;
to spoil our kiss with reproaches。
I leave you; my soul is wrung;
I pause; look back from the portal …
Ah; I no more am young;
and you; child; you are immortal!
Mine is the glacier's way;
yours is the blossom's weather …
When were December and May
known to be happy together?
Before my kisses grow tame;
before my moodiness grieve you;
While yet my heart is flame;
and I all lover; I leave you。
So; in the coming time;
when you count the rich years over;
Think of me in my prime;
and not as a white…haired lover;
Fretful; pierced with regret;
the wraith of a dead Desire
Thrumming a cracked spinet
by a slowly dying fire。
When; at last; I am cold …
years hence; if the gods so will it …
Say; 〃He was true as gold;〃
and wear a rose in your fillet!
Others; tender as I;
will come and sue for caresses;
Woo you; win you; and die …
mind you; a rose in your tresses!
Some Melpomene woo;
some hold Clio the nearest;
You; sweet Comedy … you
were ever sweetest and dearest!
Nay; it is time to go。
When writing your tragic sister
Say to that child of woe
how sorry I was I missed her。
Really; I cannot stay;
though 〃parting is such sweet sorrow〃 。 。 。
Perhaps I will; on my way
down…town; look in to…morrow!
Thomas Bailey Aldrich '1837…1907'
PAN IN WALL STREET
A。 D。 1867
Just where the Treasury's marble front
Looks over Wall Street's mingled nations;
Where Jews and Gentiles most are wont
To throng for trade and last quotations;
Where; hour by hour; the rates of gold
Outrival; in the ears of people;
The quarter…chimes; serenely tolled
From Trinity's undaunted steeple; …
Even there I heard a strange; wild strain
Sound high above the modern clamor;
Above the cries of greed and gain;
The curbstone war; the auction's hammer;
And swift; on Music's misty ways;
It led; from all this strife for millions;
To ancient; sweet…to…nothing days
Among the kirtle…robed Sicilians。
And as it stilled the multitude;
And yet more joyous rose; and shriller;
I saw the minstrel; where he stood
At ease against a Doric pillar:
One hand a droning organ played;
The other held a Pan's…pipe (fashioned
Like those of old) to lips that made
The reeds give out that strain impassioned。
'Twas Pan himself had wandered here
A…strolling through this sordid city;
And piping to the civic ear
The prelude of some pastoral ditty!
The demigod had crossed the seas; …
From haunts of shepherd; nymph; and satyr;
And Syracusan times; … to these
Far shores and twenty centuries later。
A ragged cap was on his head;
But … hidden thus … there was no doubting
That; all with crispy locks o'erspread;
His gnarled horns were somewhere sprouting;
His club…feet; cased in rusty shoes;
Were crossed; as on some frieze you see them;
And trousers; patched of divers hues;
Concealed his crooked shanks beneath them。
He filled the quivering reeds with sound;
And o'er his mouth their changes shifted;
And with his goat's…eyes looked around
Where'er the passing current drifted;
And soon; as on Trinacrian hills
The nymphs and herdsmen ran to hear him;
Even now the tradesmen from their tills;
With clerks and porters; crowded near him。
The bulls and bears together drew
From Jauncey Court and New Street Alley;
As erst; if pastorals be true;
Came beasts from every wooded valley;
The random passers stayed to list; …
A boxer Aegon; rough and merry;
A Broadway Daphnis; on his tryst
With Nais at the Brooklyn Ferry。
A one…eyed Cyclops halted long
In tattered cloak of army pattern;
And Galatea joined the throng; …
A blowsy; apple…vending slattern;
While old Silenus staggered out
From some new…fangled lunch…house handy;
And bade the piper; with a shout;
To strike up Yankee Doodle Dandy!
A newsboy and a peanut…girl
Like little Fauns began to caper:
His hair was all in tangled curl;
Her tawny legs were bare and taper;
And still the gathering larger grew;
And gave its pence and crowded nigher;
While aye the shepherd…minstrel blew
His pipe; and struck the gamut higher。
O heart of Nature; beating still
With throbs her vernal passion taught her; …
Even here; as on the vine…clad hill;
Or by the Arethusan water!
New forms may fold the speech; new lands
Arise within these ocean…portals;
But Music waves eternal wands; …
Enchantress of the souls of mortals!
So thought I; … but among us trod
A man in blue; with legal baton;
And scoffed the vagrant demigod;
And pushed him from the step I sat on。
Doubting I mused upon the cry;
〃Great Pan is dead!〃 … and all the people
Went on their ways: … and clear and high
The quarter sounded from the steeple。
Edmund Clarence Stedman '1833…1908'
UPON LESBIA … ARGUING
My Lesbia; I will not deny;
Bewitches me completely;
She has the usual beaming eye;
And smiles upon me sweetly:
But she has an unseemly way
Of contradicting what I say。
And; though I am her closest friend;
And find her fascinating;
I cannot cordially commend
Her method of debating:
Her logic; though she is divine;
Is singularly feminine。
Her reasoning is full of tricks;
And butterfly suggestions;