University of Virginia Library


387

FRUIT AND FLOWER PAINTER

She dens in a garret
As void as a drum;
In lieu of plum-pudding—
She paints the plum!
No use in my grieving,
The shops I must suit:
Broken hearts are but potsherds—
Paint flowers and fruit!
How whistles her garret,
A seine for the snows:
She hums Si fortuna,
And—paints the rose!
December is howling,
But feign it a flute:
Help on the deceiving—
Paint flowers and fruit!