 | Collected poems |  |
557
THE SIMPLE LIFE
“And 'a babbled of green fields.”
—Shakespeare-cum-Theobald.
When the starlings dot the lawn,
Cheerily we rise at dawn;
Cheerily, with blameless cup,
Greet the wise world waking up;—
Ah, they little know of this,—
They of Megalopolis!
Cheerily we rise at dawn;
Cheerily, with blameless cup,
Greet the wise world waking up;—
Ah, they little know of this,—
They of Megalopolis!
Comes the long, still morning when
Work we ply with book and pen;
Then,—the pure air in our lungs,—
Then “persuasion tips our tongues”;
Then we write as would, I wis,
Men in Megalopolis!
Work we ply with book and pen;
Then,—the pure air in our lungs,—
Then “persuasion tips our tongues”;
Then we write as would, I wis,
Men in Megalopolis!
Next (and not a stroke too soon!)
Phyllis spreads the meal of noon,
Simple, frugal, choicely clean,
Gastronomically mean;—
Appetite our entrée is,
Far from Megalopolis!
Phyllis spreads the meal of noon,
Simple, frugal, choicely clean,
Gastronomically mean;—
Appetite our entrée is,
Far from Megalopolis!
Salad in our garden grown,
Endive, beetroot,—all our own;
Bread,—we saw it made and how;
Milk and cream,—we know the cow;
Nothing here of “Force” or “Vis”
As at Megalopolis!
Endive, beetroot,—all our own;
558
Milk and cream,—we know the cow;
Nothing here of “Force” or “Vis”
As at Megalopolis!
After, surely, there should be,
Somewhere, seats beneath a tree,
Where we—'twixt the curling rings—
Dream of transitory things;
Chiefly of what people miss
Drowsed in Megalopolis!
Somewhere, seats beneath a tree,
Where we—'twixt the curling rings—
Dream of transitory things;
Chiefly of what people miss
Drowsed in Megalopolis!
Then, before the sunlight wanes,
Comes the lounge along the lanes;
Comes the rocking shallop tied
By the reedy river-side;—
Clearer waves the light keel kiss
Than by Megalopolis!
Comes the lounge along the lanes;
Comes the rocking shallop tied
By the reedy river-side;—
Clearer waves the light keel kiss
Than by Megalopolis!
So we speed the golden hours
In this Hermitage of ours
(Hermits we are not, believe!
Every Adam has his Eve,
Loved with a serener bliss
Than in Megalopolis):—
In this Hermitage of ours
(Hermits we are not, believe!
Every Adam has his Eve,
Loved with a serener bliss
Than in Megalopolis):—
So—until the shadows fall:
Then Good Night say each and all;
Sleep secure from smoke and din,
Quiet Conscience tucks us in;
Ah, they nothing know of this,—
They of Megalopolis!
Then Good Night say each and all;
Sleep secure from smoke and din,
Quiet Conscience tucks us in;
Ah, they nothing know of this,—
They of Megalopolis!
559
(Thus Urbanus to his Wife
Babbled of The Simple Life.
Then—his glances unawares
Lighting on a List of Shares—
Gulping all his breakfast down,
Bustled, by the Train, to Town.)
Babbled of The Simple Life.
Then—his glances unawares
Lighting on a List of Shares—
Gulping all his breakfast down,
Bustled, by the Train, to Town.)
1905.
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