 | Australian Lyrics &c |  |
THE BELLE OF THE BALL.
Yes! she was belle most certainly; there was no one to match her
For beauty or refinement or the slender elegance
That drew the eye instinctively to feast on her and watch her
Of all the fair and graceful girls that mingled in the dance.
For beauty or refinement or the slender elegance
That drew the eye instinctively to feast on her and watch her
Of all the fair and graceful girls that mingled in the dance.
She is so palely beautiful that I had almost dreaded
That she would pass unnoticed 'mid the sheen of brighter hues,
As in the woods the veiny white anemone imbedded
Amid the blaze of primrose golds and hyacinthine blues.
That she would pass unnoticed 'mid the sheen of brighter hues,
As in the woods the veiny white anemone imbedded
Amid the blaze of primrose golds and hyacinthine blues.
But no! she did not, it is true, glow like a rustic Phyllis,
With the contrasted blush and white a Perdita should claim,
But rather with the flushing of the flower Amaryllis,
Or pinkiness of fingers when they shade a candle-flame.
With the contrasted blush and white a Perdita should claim,
But rather with the flushing of the flower Amaryllis,
Or pinkiness of fingers when they shade a candle-flame.
I watched her as she floated by in some soft pink enshrouded,
With crimson roses clustering on one side of her neck,
And felt a shrewd suspicion, and to myself avowed it,
That I might have been added to the bondslaves at her beck,
With crimson roses clustering on one side of her neck,
And felt a shrewd suspicion, and to myself avowed it,
That I might have been added to the bondslaves at her beck,
If I had been, as some men there, heartwhole and free of fancy,
With no queen of my own enthroned imperial in my love,
And no conjugal talisman against her necromancy
To purge the glamour from my eyes when they were lured to rove.
With no queen of my own enthroned imperial in my love,
And no conjugal talisman against her necromancy
To purge the glamour from my eyes when they were lured to rove.
I love her as I love whate'er is noble, good, and comely,
A highbred horse, a livre de luxe, the blue of Austral skies;
I love her as I love whate'er is beautiful and homely,
The sweetness of the wallflow'r and the light of mother's eyes.
A highbred horse, a livre de luxe, the blue of Austral skies;
I love her as I love whate'er is beautiful and homely,
The sweetness of the wallflow'r and the light of mother's eyes.
I love her in such fashion, that I love to do her honour,
To have her look as lovely and engaging as may be,
To set a crown of homage, from all whom she meets, upon her,
And make her young life joyous and from pain and trouble free.
To have her look as lovely and engaging as may be,
To set a crown of homage, from all whom she meets, upon her,
And make her young life joyous and from pain and trouble free.
| Australian Lyrics &c | |