The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang Edited by Mrs. Lang |
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Ballade of the Unattainable
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 | The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang |  |
134
Ballade of the Unattainable
The Books I cannot hope to buy,
Their phantoms round me waltz and wheel;
They pass before the dreaming eye,
Ere sleep the dreaming eye can seal.
A kind of literary reel
They dance; how fair the bindings shine!
Prose cannot tell them what I feel—
The books that never can be mine!
Their phantoms round me waltz and wheel;
They pass before the dreaming eye,
Ere sleep the dreaming eye can seal.
A kind of literary reel
They dance; how fair the bindings shine!
Prose cannot tell them what I feel—
The books that never can be mine!
There frisk editions rare and shy,
Morocco clad from head to heel;
Shakespearian quartos; Comedy
As first she flashed from Richard Steele;
And quaint De Foe on Mrs. Veal;
And, lord of landing net and line,
Old Izaak with his fishing creel,—
The books that never can be mine!
Morocco clad from head to heel;
Shakespearian quartos; Comedy
As first she flashed from Richard Steele;
And quaint De Foe on Mrs. Veal;
And, lord of landing net and line,
Old Izaak with his fishing creel,—
The books that never can be mine!
135
Incunables! for you I sigh,
Black letter, at thy founts I kneel;
Old tales of Perrault's nursery,
For you I'd go without a meal!
For books wherein did Aldus deal
And rare Galliot du Pré I pine.
The watches of the night reveal
The books that never can be mine!
Black letter, at thy founts I kneel;
Old tales of Perrault's nursery,
For you I'd go without a meal!
For books wherein did Aldus deal
And rare Galliot du Pré I pine.
The watches of the night reveal
The books that never can be mine!
Envoy
Prince, hear a hopeless bard's appeal;Reverse the rules of Mine and Thine;
Make it legitimate to steal
The books that never can be mine!
| The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang | |