 | Voices and visions |  |
65
LOVE AT SCHOOL
Fatigued by tricks whose guile and glee
Would man or maid for ever fool,
At last Love told himself that he
Would mend his ways and go to school.
Would man or maid for ever fool,
At last Love told himself that he
Would mend his ways and go to school.
His purple-shimmering wings he slipped
Inside a jerkin plain and spare;
With dews that strange dark night-flowers dripped
He stained his glorious golden hair.
Inside a jerkin plain and spare;
With dews that strange dark night-flowers dripped
He stained his glorious golden hair.
Then, carrying neither dart nor bow,
Meek-browed beneath his raven curls,
To school he fared, with eyelids low,
And joined the little boys and girls.
Meek-browed beneath his raven curls,
To school he fared, with eyelids low,
And joined the little boys and girls.
In goggles green a grisly shrew
Flung forth her questions, harsh and quick;
She made her pupils bound Peru;
She racked them with arithmetic.
Flung forth her questions, harsh and quick;
She made her pupils bound Peru;
She racked them with arithmetic.
She shook her birch, while pale and dumb
They balked at grammar, piteous throng! ...
She bade them spell ‘chrysanthemum,’
And snorted when they spelt it wrong.
They balked at grammar, piteous throng! ...
She bade them spell ‘chrysanthemum,’
And snorted when they spelt it wrong.
66
With gaze demure and mien sedate
Through all the bluster she revealed,
Now mirthful, now compassionate,
His mighty wisdom Love concealed.
Through all the bluster she revealed,
Now mirthful, now compassionate,
His mighty wisdom Love concealed.
Exempt from tasks, a scholar new,
He slyly marked his mates forlorn,
And while he watched them yearnings grew
To quell their tyrant's wrath and scorn.
He slyly marked his mates forlorn,
And while he watched them yearnings grew
To quell their tyrant's wrath and scorn.
‘Quit books,’ he cried, in merriest voice,
And pranced impetuous from his chair;
‘The heavens with holiday rejoice,
And buds are bursting everywhere!’
And pranced impetuous from his chair;
‘The heavens with holiday rejoice,
And buds are bursting everywhere!’
He lightly doffed his dull disguise
And lightly dashed, in gladsome haste,
To seize, despite her wild surprise,
The beldame by her bony waist.
And lightly dashed, in gladsome haste,
To seize, despite her wild surprise,
The beldame by her bony waist.
‘Come, dance!’ he hailed, and woke the wiles
Whose power no vantage may avert. ...
Her doleful wrinkles died in smiles;
With nimble wrist she twirled her skirt.
Whose power no vantage may avert. ...
Her doleful wrinkles died in smiles;
With nimble wrist she twirled her skirt.
Then straight the stiff room's ugly square
Was filled with torches' fairy jets,
And all the new irradiate air
Was loud with lutes and clarionets.
Was filled with torches' fairy jets,
And all the new irradiate air
Was loud with lutes and clarionets.
67
Love laughed as though gone wild for joy,
Pirouetting on his bloomy toes,
And every little girl and boy
Tumultuous from their seats arose.
Pirouetting on his bloomy toes,
And every little girl and boy
Tumultuous from their seats arose.
Unchecked, unchid, they romped and raced,
By spells of mystic zeal possessed,
And every little boy embraced
The little girl he liked the best.
By spells of mystic zeal possessed,
And every little boy embraced
The little girl he liked the best.
‘A reel!’ they heard their master shout,
And swept to shape the double row,
With round-about and in-and-out,
With down-in-the-middle and dos-à-dos.
And swept to shape the double row,
With round-about and in-and-out,
With down-in-the-middle and dos-à-dos.
They danced like mad, but madder yet
The gaunt old teacher's form would whirl.
She kissed each little boy she met,
But did not kiss—each little girl.
The gaunt old teacher's form would whirl.
She kissed each little boy she met,
But did not kiss—each little girl.
So all his caprioles, curves and springs
Love made their scampering steps obey,—
Till tired he oped his orient wings
And impudently flew away.
Love made their scampering steps obey,—
Till tired he oped his orient wings
And impudently flew away.
And then, while fleeting fast and free,
With diamond eyes and dimpled cheeks,
He cried: ‘What fools these mortals be!
I have not found such fun for weeks!’
With diamond eyes and dimpled cheeks,
He cried: ‘What fools these mortals be!
I have not found such fun for weeks!’
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