 | Under Cross and Crescent |  |
45
“MEN WERE DECEIVERS EVER”
Ah, here it is! “Greetings at Christmas-time,”
And “I wish you a Happy New Year,”
With a bunch of mistletoe frosted with rime,
And a Cupid armed with a spear;
And “I wish you a Happy New Year,”
With a bunch of mistletoe frosted with rime,
And a Cupid armed with a spear;
And a verse underneath about “hearts and darts,”
And the love that never can die,
And of how a poor exile in foreign parts
Longs e'en for an English sky.
And the love that never can die,
And of how a poor exile in foreign parts
Longs e'en for an English sky.
Now to date it, and seal it, and send to post,
With a guilty, feverish speed,
And a foolish dread lest a shuddering ghost
Should rise and denounce my deed.
With a guilty, feverish speed,
And a foolish dread lest a shuddering ghost
Should rise and denounce my deed.
46
Nay! back to your bed in the cold churchyard!
And she?—she will never know
That I send her a second-hand Christmas card
That came to me years ago!
And she?—she will never know
That I send her a second-hand Christmas card
That came to me years ago!
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