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A lover's diary

Cary, Alice (1820-1871)

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DEDICATION.
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PART I. DREAM-LAND.
  
MONA, SEVEN YEARS OLD.
  
MONA, EIGHT YEARS OLD.
  
MONA, AT SCHOOL.
  
MONA, TEN YEARS OLD.
  
MONA, FOURTEEN.
  
MONA, SLEEPING.
  
MONA, SPINNING.
  
MONA, KNITTING.
  
MONA, MILKING.
  
KRUMLEY.
  
MONA, FIFTEEN.
  
MONA, PERFECT.
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PART II. SERENADES.
 1. 
I. APRIL.
 2. 
II. MAY.
 3. 
III. JUNE.
 4. 
IV. JULY.
 5. 
V. JULY.
 6. 
VI. AUGUST.
 7. 
VII. AUGUST.
 8. 
VIII. SEPTEMBER.
 9. 
IX. NOVEMBER.
 10. 
X. DECEMBER.
 11. 
XI. DECEMBER.
 12. 
XII. JANUARY.
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PART III. RHAPSODIES.
 1. 
[I. My beautiful little one]
 2. 
II. SPRING.
 3. 
III. CRAZY.
 4. 
IV. IN ABSENCE.
 5. 
V. ALL IN ALL.
 6. 
VI. VAGARIES.
 7. 
VII. MONA, SAD.
 8. 
VIII. MONA, SICK.
 9. 
IX. MONA, SICK.
 10. 
X. INSPIRED.
 11. 
[XI. Who wills it so, may praise]
 12. 
XII. WEARY.
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PART IV. REJECTED.
  
[I] PROPOSAL.
  
[II] REFUSAL.
 3. 
[III. Thou, that drawest aside the curtain]
 4. 
[IV. Kiss me, though you make believe]
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PART V. IN DESPAIR.
 1. 
[I. Through her I felt the evening's hush]
 2. 
II. TO THE MARCH FLOWERS.
 3. 
[III. I wish the rose were not so red]
 4. 
[IV. The violets, O the violets]
 5. 
V. AUGUST.
 6. 
[VI. The moon that was a crescent yesterday]
 7. 
[VII. O for the summers when]
 8. 
VIII. OCTOBER.
 9. 
[IX. Some quiet beams at daylight's close]
 10. 
[X. The nights they come and the nights they go]
 11. 
[XI. Her mouth was red, and you would say]
 12. 
[XII. I know not what the world may be]
 13. 
[XIII. My heart, my heart! I'm weary of your sighing]
 14. 
[XIV. The sun comes up and the sun goes down]
 15. 
[XV. The sun has vanished out o' my sight]
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PART VI. LOVE-LETTERS.
 1. 
I. TO MONA.
 2. 
II. MONA'S ANSWER.
 3. 
III. TO MONA.
 4. 
IV. MONA'S ANSWER.
 5. 
[V. My cruel little Mona]
 6. 
[VI. Before the daybreak I arise]
 7. 
[VII. My days dawn upon me in sadness]
 8. 
VIII. ON RECEIVING SOME FADED FLOWERS.
 9. 
IX. WHEN SHE HAD PROMISED TO MEET ME.
 10. 
X. AFTER WE MET.
 11. 
[XI. Would you bide in sweet content]
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PART VII. SOLILOQUIES.
 1. 
[I. As one who from a troubled dream]
 2. 
[II. Why hast thou forgot the snow]
 3. 
[III. Mona hath a slender waist]
 4. 
[IV. Down either way, from gentle, dove-like eyes]
 5. 
[V. Love's light is strange to you? Ah me]
 6. 
[VI. Whene'er I see the evening's sober gray]
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PART VIII. LIGHT AND SHADOW.
  
LANDMARKS.
  
MONA'S MOTHER.
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PART IX. MONA'S SONGS.
 1. 
[I. All day yesterday as I spun]
 2. 
[II. Wind that criest and moanest so]
 3. 
[III. Low, sweet and low]
 4. 
[IV. Six skeins and three, six skeins and three]
 5. 
[V. Like a poet in the splendor]
 6. 
[VI. Dear heart, a love so truly true]
 7. 
[VII. Little daisy, go to bed]
 8. 
[VIII. Come from your long, long roving]
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PART X. CONVERSATIONS.
 1. 
[I. Ah, blame me gently, though I sit for hours]
 2. 
II MONA ASKS ME TO SING.
 3. 
III. I ASK MONA TO SING.
 4. 
[IV. I said, “I have a tale to tell!”]
 5. 
[V. Forgive me, but I needs must press]
 6. 
[VI.“I was blind till yesterday.—”]
 7. 
[VII. I asked my darling once if she]
 8. 
[VIII. How, my love, shall I make thy bed]
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PART XI. AFTER MARRIAGE.
 1. 
[I. Say, do you love me as in the olden]
 2. 
[II. We have been lovers now, my dear]
 3. 
III. CHARITY.
 4. 
[IV. The clouds in many a windy rack]

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215

III.
I ASK MONA TO SING.

“Devise a little song of love,
And set thee like a picture there?
Thou givest me a task above
What any mortal hand may dare!
So tender, and so true of heart;
So meekly great, so wisely good;
I could not paint thee as thou art,
And would not, darling, if I could.
Though fond the task, I must forbear,
Or, painting, do thee grievous wrong;
Else, darling, all men everywhere
Will know thee, when they read my song!
216

But were this not,—could words portray
Our love? the sweetest ever chose?
What can the dull, cold shadow say
About the red, ripe, living rose?
Ask me no song! words lose their power
Where true enthronéd Love doth sit,
And fall like dew-drops from a flower
When the wind comes and kisses it.
Such music who should understand,
Though my heart sung it, beat by beat?
Ah, we are travellers in a land
Where no man speaks our language, sweet!”
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