 | Parliamentary Letters, and Other Poems |  |
Whilst these duodecimo books I detest,
Country dances I think even worse than the rest;
Where unsociable space loving partners divides,
Who smile at each other from opposite sides;
And, instead of soft pressures and whispers seraphic
Their little endearments are all telegraphic:—
There you stand in a set of two dozen, and stop
Till some get to the bottom, and you to the top;
And when you are there the reward you obtain
Is to run down the middle, and run up again;
And then the vile ill-looking creatures, who stand
All eager in turn to take hold of your hand;
As you follow the leader through twenty or thirty;
With hands very warm, and with gloves very dirty.
But in waltzing you're join'd (as in marriage) to one
Who claims (or should claim) your attention alone;
Unless on the circle of gazers you glance,
Assured they are thinking how well you both dance.
Country dances I think even worse than the rest;
Where unsociable space loving partners divides,
Who smile at each other from opposite sides;
And, instead of soft pressures and whispers seraphic
Their little endearments are all telegraphic:—
There you stand in a set of two dozen, and stop
Till some get to the bottom, and you to the top;
And when you are there the reward you obtain
Is to run down the middle, and run up again;
And then the vile ill-looking creatures, who stand
All eager in turn to take hold of your hand;
97
With hands very warm, and with gloves very dirty.
But in waltzing you're join'd (as in marriage) to one
Who claims (or should claim) your attention alone;
Unless on the circle of gazers you glance,
Assured they are thinking how well you both dance.
| Parliamentary Letters, and Other Poems | |