Pretty Lessons in Verse :: :: University of Virginia Library

The mountain is steep, and the weather is hot,
But Colin's in very high glee;
For heat and for steepness he cares not a jot,
A jolly round orange the laddie has got,
And who is so merry as he?

His cheek's rosy red, and his countenance bright;
He clambers with thorough good will;
The beautiful orange rejoices his sight,
He thinks it a fountain of richest delight
To quaff at the top of the hill.

The rest of the party he greatly outstrips,—
He never has met with a fall;
He laughs at his friends for their tumbles and slips,
And plays with his orange as onward he skips,
And tosses it up like a ball.

And now from the summit he sets up a shout,
He vows that the prospect is grand;
But while he is whisking and whirling about,
And jeering the laggers with many a flout,
The orange jumps out of his hand.

Imagine the look of despair and dismay
That over his countenance past!
His fine juicy orange was bowling away,
No mortal its flight was now able to stay,
And Colin has lost his repast.

“O where,” he exclaims, “can my orange have flown
To moulder away in neglect?
The sheep will pass by it as if 'twere a stone,
And Rover had much rather meet with a bone,—
By grouse it will never be peck'd.”

For some little time he stood still as a stock,
His face wore a fixed vacant stare;
But soon he recover'd this terrible shock,
And turning away from the edge of the rock,
Threw off his disconsolate air.

With thoughts of the basket he solaced his heart,
From thence real comfort might come;
For he in the sandwiches still had a part,
He perhaps might come in for a slice of the tart,
And there was the pine-apple rum.

Since pleasure is apt through our fingers to slip,
And fate we can never withstand;
Whene'er the full cup is thus dashed from the lip,
Before we have taken the very first sip,
'Tis well to keep temper in hand.