University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Lyrical Poems

By John Stuart Blackie

collapse section 
  
  
collapse sectionI. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
collapse sectionII. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
collapse sectionIII. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
WHEREFORE NOW NOR SONG NOR SONNET?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
collapse sectionIV. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


161

WHEREFORE NOW NOR SONG NOR SONNET?

Wherefore now nor song nor sonnet
Write I thee, Eliza dear?
Love's a plant, the blossom on it
Rhyme, child of the vernal year:
With the full-grown time it ceases,
Waning as the fruit increases,
Therefore now nor song nor sonnet
Write I thee, Eliza dear!
Ever as I would be chiming
Pretty pointed lines to thee,
Seems a power to rein my rhyming,
And it reasons thus with me:

162

“Fool, why wilt thou still be prating?
Truth that's known needs no debating!”
Therefore I nor song nor sonnet
Write, Eliza dear, to thee!