 | A little book of tribune verse |  |
24
WE RUNNED AWAY.
Two little rascally darlings they stood,
Hand clasped in hand and eyes full of glee,
Stock still in the midst of the crowded street,
Naughty as ever children could be.
Hand clasped in hand and eyes full of glee,
Stock still in the midst of the crowded street,
Naughty as ever children could be.
Horses to right of them, horses to left,
Men hurrying breathless to and fro,
Nobody stopping to wonder at them,
Nobody there with a right to know.
Men hurrying breathless to and fro,
Nobody stopping to wonder at them,
Nobody there with a right to know.
Oh, what a chance for a full truant joy!
Earth holds no other equal delight,
Hark! it is over, a shriek fills the air,
A woman's face flashes, pallid white.
Earth holds no other equal delight,
Hark! it is over, a shriek fills the air,
A woman's face flashes, pallid white.
“O Babies! whose are you? How came you here?”
The busy street halts aghast at bay;
Serene smile the infants, as heavenly clear
They both speak together: “We runned away!”
The busy street halts aghast at bay;
Serene smile the infants, as heavenly clear
They both speak together: “We runned away!”
The crowd and the bustle swayed on again,
The babies are safe and had lost their fun;
And we, who saw, felt a secret pain,
Half envy, of what the babies had done.
The babies are safe and had lost their fun;
And we, who saw, felt a secret pain,
Half envy, of what the babies had done.
And said in our hearts, alack! if we tell
The truth, and the whole truth, we must say,
We never get now so good a time
As we used to have when “we runned away.”
The truth, and the whole truth, we must say,
We never get now so good a time
As we used to have when “we runned away.”
December 27th, 1882.
| A little book of tribune verse | |