 | Words by the Wayside |  |
I
O bride and bridegroom, while the sun
Shall cast a shade on your life's dial,
May many a cup of sparkling fun
Be poured from this Venetian phial!
Come, make the trial!
Shall cast a shade on your life's dial,
May many a cup of sparkling fun
Be poured from this Venetian phial!
Come, make the trial!
I'll warrant the deft hands long cold
That round the dainty waist first took it;
And, if the cork be scarce so old,
To our default pray do not book it,
But overlook it.
That round the dainty waist first took it;
And, if the cork be scarce so old,
To our default pray do not book it,
But overlook it.
No bubble in the crystal spied,
But came from lips of lovers sighing;
And up and down its tendrilled side
(Fair omen) turtle-doves are flying,
There's no denying.
But came from lips of lovers sighing;
And up and down its tendrilled side
(Fair omen) turtle-doves are flying,
There's no denying.
See too with what a jaunty air
It cocks those skinny arms akimbo,
As if protesting “I shall ne'er,
Cracked by an arrow from Time's grim bow,
Be laid in limbo.”
It cocks those skinny arms akimbo,
As if protesting “I shall ne'er,
Cracked by an arrow from Time's grim bow,
Be laid in limbo.”
Of its own worth, though all too slight,
'Twill plainly bate nor jot nor tittle:
Yet take it, in its own despite
An emblem of true love in little,
Though far more brittle.
'Twill plainly bate nor jot nor tittle:
Yet take it, in its own despite
An emblem of true love in little,
Though far more brittle.
| Words by the Wayside | |