 | The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") |  |
“THE GAY YOUNG MAN FROM TOWN.”
With fork in hand, one summer day,
Making a feint of tossing hay,
The gay young man who came from town
Talked with a maiden small and brown,
With hazel eyes and chestnut hair,
And quiet way and modest air;
Nor did he seem to care or know
That her blush was quick and voice was low,
For merely to flirt with the maiden brown
Was the aim of the gay young man from town.
Making a feint of tossing hay,
The gay young man who came from town
Talked with a maiden small and brown,
With hazel eyes and chestnut hair,
And quiet way and modest air;
Nor did he seem to care or know
That her blush was quick and voice was low,
For merely to flirt with the maiden brown
Was the aim of the gay young man from town.
At nooning next the young man sat
Beneath an apple tree—sour at that—
And chatted with Susy (such her name)
About the city from whence he came,
Its long, wide avenues, buildings vast,
Its ease and luxury unsurpassed;
While she, with a bashful air and shy,
Drooped low each eyelid over its eye,
A deep flush reddening features brown
At words of the gay young man from town.
Beneath an apple tree—sour at that—
And chatted with Susy (such her name)
About the city from whence he came,
Its long, wide avenues, buildings vast,
Its ease and luxury unsurpassed;
While she, with a bashful air and shy,
Drooped low each eyelid over its eye,
A deep flush reddening features brown
At words of the gay young man from town.
Some days he had spent in this rural spot,
Where health was plenty, and style was not;
Had left his club and his friends behind
For life that was true and unconfined,
With study (the latest novel) worn,
With loss of his hunting-dog forlorn,
And because of a sad dispute he had
With his “governor”—thus he styled his dad.
All this he explained to the maiden brown,
With a sigh, this gay young man from town.
Where health was plenty, and style was not;
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For life that was true and unconfined,
With study (the latest novel) worn,
With loss of his hunting-dog forlorn,
And because of a sad dispute he had
With his “governor”—thus he styled his dad.
All this he explained to the maiden brown,
With a sigh, this gay young man from town.
First days, then weeks, and where Susy went
The steps of the gay young man were bent,
And sentiment followed flirting then,
As chanced to many a man of men;
For he found his pulses quicken and stir,
Whenever he saw or thought of her,
And learned alone to dream and sigh,
Or stammer and blush when she was nigh;
The eyes and blush of the maiden brown
Had captured the gay young man from town.
The steps of the gay young man were bent,
And sentiment followed flirting then,
As chanced to many a man of men;
For he found his pulses quicken and stir,
Whenever he saw or thought of her,
And learned alone to dream and sigh,
Or stammer and blush when she was nigh;
The eyes and blush of the maiden brown
Had captured the gay young man from town.
So he told his love, and as he bent
In hope and fear to ask consent,
He told her the real reason why
He had cast his home and kinsfolk by.
His father had bade him settle in life,
And had chosen for him a proper wife,
“Who did not stand on her worth alone,
With a rich old father, and cash of her own,”
But he fled from her and his father's frown,
And found his fate afar from town.
In hope and fear to ask consent,
He told her the real reason why
He had cast his home and kinsfolk by.
His father had bade him settle in life,
And had chosen for him a proper wife,
“Who did not stand on her worth alone,
With a rich old father, and cash of her own,”
But he fled from her and his father's frown,
And found his fate afar from town.
The maiden listened well the while,
And over her features came a smile.
Her father, she told him, had a plan
To make her wife to a gay young man
“Who did not stand on his worth alone,
With a rich old father and cash of his own;”
Reputed he was a handsome catch;
But she objected to such a match,
And, afraid to face her father's frown,
Had fled to her old nurse here from town.
And over her features came a smile.
Her father, she told him, had a plan
To make her wife to a gay young man
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With a rich old father and cash of his own;”
Reputed he was a handsome catch;
But she objected to such a match,
And, afraid to face her father's frown,
Had fled to her old nurse here from town.
He stared; she smiled. Around her waist
His arm in loving way he placed.
“In spite of will we must confess
The old folk triumph, nevertheless;
It seems we ran from love away,
And lived to love another day;
And, plighted, going back again,
Our sires will laugh at us—what then?
'Tis better far to laugh than frown”—
Were the words of the gay young man from town.
His arm in loving way he placed.
“In spite of will we must confess
The old folk triumph, nevertheless;
It seems we ran from love away,
And lived to love another day;
And, plighted, going back again,
Our sires will laugh at us—what then?
'Tis better far to laugh than frown”—
Were the words of the gay young man from town.
| The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") | |