The Scarlet Gown | Page 9

to Truth and Right,?While Reverence shall rent a room,
Upon the second flight.
And wishes shall be horses then,?And beggars shall be kings;?And all the people shall admire
This pleasant state of things.
But if it seems a mystery,
And you're inclined to doubt it,?Just ask your local poet. He
Will tell you all about it.
THE DELIGHTS OF MATHEMATICS
It seems a hundred years or more
Since I, with note-book, ink and pen,?In cap and gown, first trod the floor
Which I have often trod since then;?Yet well do I remember when,
With fifty other fond fanatics,?I sought delights beyond my ken,
The deep delights of Mathematics.
I knew that two and two made four,
I felt that five times two were ten,?But, as for all profounder lore,
The robin redbreast or the wren,?The sparrow, whether cock or hen,?Knew quite as much about Quadratics,?Was less confused by x_ and _n,
The deep delights of Mathematics.
The Asses' Bridge I passed not o'er,
I floundered in the noisome fen?Which lies behind it and before;
I wandered in the gloomy glen?Where Surds and Factors have their den.
But when I saw the pit of Statics,?I said Good-bye, Farewell, Amen!
The deep delights of Mathematics.
O Bejants! blessed, beardless men,
Who strive with Euclid in your attics,?For worlds I would not taste again
The deep delights of Mathematics.
STANZAS FOR MUSIC
I loved a little maiden
In the golden years gone by;?She lived in a mill, as they all do
(There is doubtless a reason why).?But she faded in the autumn
When the leaves began to fade,?And the night before she faded,
These words to me she said:?'Do not forget me, Henry,
Be noble and brave and true;?But I must not bide, for the world is wide,
And the sky above is blue.'
So I said farewell to my darling,
And sailed away and came back;?And the good ship Jane was in port again,?And I found that they all loved Jack.?But Polly and I were sweethearts,
As all the neighbours know,?Before I met with the mill-girl
Twenty years ago.?So I thought I would go and see her,
But alas, she had faded too!?She could not bide, for the world was wide,
And the sky above was blue.
And now I can only remember
The maid--the maid of the mill,?And Polly, and one or two others
In the churchyard over the hill.?And I sadly ask the question,
As I weep in the yew-tree's shade?With my elbow on one of their tombstones,
'Ah, why did they all of them fade?'?And the answer I half expected?Comes from the solemn yew,?'They could none of them bide, for the world was wide,
And the sky above was blue.'
THE END OF APRIL
This is the time when larks are singing loud
And higher still ascending and more high,?This is the time when many a fleecy cloud
Runs lamb-like on the pastures of the sky,?This is the time when most I love to lie
Stretched on the links, now listening to the sea,?Now looking at the train that dawdles by;
But James is going in for his degree.
James is my brother. He has twice been ploughed,
Yet he intends to have another shy,?Hoping to pass (as he says) in a crowd.
Sanguine is James, but not so sanguine I.?If you demand my reason, I reply:?Because he reads no Greek without a key?And spells Thucydides c-i-d-y;
Yet James is going in for his degree.
No doubt, if the authorities allowed
The taking in of Bohns, he might defy?The stiffest paper that has ever cowed
A timid candidate and made him fly.?Without such aids, he all as well may try
To cultivate the people of Dundee,?Or lead the camel through the needle's eye;
Yet James is going in for his degree.
Vain are the efforts hapless mortals ply
To climb of knowledge the forbidden tree;?Yet still about its roots they strive and cry,
And James is going in for his degree.
THE SCIENCE CLUB
Hurrah for the Science Club!
Join it, ye fourth year men;?Join it, thou smooth-cheeked scrub,
Whose years scarce number ten
Join it, divines most grave;
Science, as all men know,?As a friend the Church may save,
But may damage her as a foe.
(And in any case it is well,
If attacking insidious doubt,?Or devoting H--- to H---,
To know what you're talking about.)
Hurrah for the lang-nebbit word!?Hurrah for the erudite phrase,?That in Dura Den shall be heard,
That shall echo on Kinkell Braes!
Hurrah for the spoils of the links
(The golf-ball as well as the daisy)!?Hurrah for explosions and stinks
To set half the landladies crazy!
Hurrah for the fragments of boulders,
Surpassing in size and in weight,?To be carried home on the shoulders
And laid on the table in state!
Hurrah for the flying-machine
Long buried from sight in a cupboard,?With bones that would never have been
Desired of old Mother Hubbard!
Hurrah for the hazardous boat,?For the crabs (of all kinds) to be caught,?For the eggs on the surface that float,
And the lump-sucker curiously wrought!
Hurrah for the filling of tanks
In the shanty down by the shore,?For the Royal Society's thanks,
With Fellowships flying galore!
Hurrah for discourses on worms,
Where one listens and comes away?With a stock of bewildering terms,
And nothing whatever to pay!
Hurrah for gadding about
Of