15.07.2007, 13:46
On Parting with a very Pretty, but very Little Lady
‘T is ever thus. We only meet on earth
That we may know how sad it is to part:
And sad indeed it were, if, in the heart,
There were no store reserved against a dearth,
No calm Elysium for departed Mirth,
Haunted by gentle shadows of past Pleasure:
Where the sweet folly, the light-footed measure,
And graver triftles of the shining hearth
Live in their own dear image. Lady fair,
Thy presence in our little vale has been
A visitation of the Fairy Queen,
Who for brief space reveals her beauty rare,
And shows her tricksy feats to mortal eyes,
Then fades into her viewless Paradise.
‘T is ever thus. We only meet on earth
That we may know how sad it is to part:
And sad indeed it were, if, in the heart,
There were no store reserved against a dearth,
No calm Elysium for departed Mirth,
Haunted by gentle shadows of past Pleasure:
Where the sweet folly, the light-footed measure,
And graver triftles of the shining hearth
Live in their own dear image. Lady fair,
Thy presence in our little vale has been
A visitation of the Fairy Queen,
Who for brief space reveals her beauty rare,
And shows her tricksy feats to mortal eyes,
Then fades into her viewless Paradise.