 | Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac |  |
87
AT THE WINDOW.
She is standing in the parlour, leaning on her carpet broom;
She has done her daily sweeping, and has dusted all the room;
She is looking out of window: is she gazing at the view?
No, indeed—she only wonders if her fortune will come true.
She has done her daily sweeping, and has dusted all the room;
She is looking out of window: is she gazing at the view?
No, indeed—she only wonders if her fortune will come true.
For this morning in the kitchen she has turn'd her teacup thrice,
And the things she saw within it were so novel and so nice!
There were kisses, and a letter, and a sweetheart, and a friend,
All arranged within that teacup, in a most engaging blend.
And the things she saw within it were so novel and so nice!
There were kisses, and a letter, and a sweetheart, and a friend,
All arranged within that teacup, in a most engaging blend.
Sure, the sweetheart is her sweetheart; and the kisses must be his;
And the letter, he have wrote it for to tell her where he is;
And the friend—why, that's his sister, Captain Thompson's Mary Ann,
Which was married last September, to the undertaker's man!
And the letter, he have wrote it for to tell her where he is;
And the friend—why, that's his sister, Captain Thompson's Mary Ann,
Which was married last September, to the undertaker's man!
88
Ah, she sees it all, in vision: Jack is coming home from sea,
And he's wrote for her to go to him, at Mary Ann's, to tea;
And the kisses—she will have them, every one of 'em, no doubt,
On the very next o' Sundays, which it is her Sunday out!
And he's wrote for her to go to him, at Mary Ann's, to tea;
And the kisses—she will have them, every one of 'em, no doubt,
On the very next o' Sundays, which it is her Sunday out!
So she stands, our pensive Polly, with her dustpan, and her fears,
And her hopes—but, Goodness gracious! What's them footsteps as she hears?
Oh, for certain, it's the Missis—and she's bustling down to prayers,
And I arena clean'd and tidied—is there time to run upstairs?
And her hopes—but, Goodness gracious! What's them footsteps as she hears?
Oh, for certain, it's the Missis—and she's bustling down to prayers,
And I arena clean'd and tidied—is there time to run upstairs?
Yes, there's time; and she has done it! Enter Polly, if you look,
In a tidy cap and apron, walking after Mrs Cook:
With her eyes demurely downcast, as she sinks upon her knees,
And remembers there her sweetheart, just a-coming o'er the seas.
In a tidy cap and apron, walking after Mrs Cook:
With her eyes demurely downcast, as she sinks upon her knees,
And remembers there her sweetheart, just a-coming o'er the seas.
| Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac | |