FLY LEAVES

BY

C. S. CALVERLEY, AUTHOR OF “VERSES AND TRANSLATIONS.”

TENTH THOUSAND.

CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO. LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 1884

p. ivCHISWICK PRESS:—C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.

p. vCONTENTS.

Page

Morning

1

Evening

4

Shelter

6

In the Gloaming

8

The Palace

13

Peace

17

The Arab

19

Lines on Hearing the Organ

22

Changed

29

First Love

32

Wanderers

36

Sad Memories

39

Companions

45

Ballad

48

Precious Stones

51

Disaster

56

Contentment

59

The Schoolmaster

63

Arcades Ambo

66

p. viWaiting

69

Play

71

Love

74

Thoughts at a Railway Station

78

On the Brink

81

“Forever”

86

Under the Trees

89

Motherhood

92

Mystery

95

Flight

99

On the Beach

104

Lovers, and a Reflection

108

The Cock and the Bull

113

An Examination Paper

121

p. 1MORNING.

’Tis the hour when white-horsed Day Chases Night her mares away; When the Gates of Dawn (they say) Phœbus opes: And I gather that the Queen May be uniformly seen, Should the weather be serene, On the slopes.

When the ploughman, as he goes Leathern-gaitered o’er the snows, From his hat and from his nose Knocks the ice; p. 2And the panes are frosted o’er, And the lawn is crisp and hoar, As has been observed before Once or twice.

When arrayed in breastplate red Sings the robin, for his bread, On the elmtree that hath shed Every leaf; While, within, the frost benumbs The still sleepy schoolboy’s thumbs, And in consequence his sums Come to grief.

But when breakfast-time hath come, And he’s crunching crust and crumb, He’ll no longer look a glum Little dunce; p. 3But be brisk as bees that settle On a summer rose’s petal: Wherefore, Polly, put the kettle On at once.

p. 4EVENING.

Kate! if e’er thy light foot lingers On the lawn, when up the fells Steals the Dark, and fairy fingers Close unseen the pimpernels: When, his thighs with sweetness laden, From the meadow comes the bee, And the lover and the maiden Stand beneath the trysting tree:—

Lingers on, till stars unnumber’d Tremble in the breeze-swept tarn, And the bat that all day slumber’d Flits about the lonely barn; p. 5And the shapes that shrink from garish Noon are peopling cairn and lea; And thy sire is almost bearish If kept waiting for his tea:—

And the screech-owl scares the peasant As he skirts some churchyard drear; And the goblins whisper pleasant Tales in Miss Rossetti’s ear; Importuning her in strangest, Sweetest tones to buy their fruits:— O be careful that thou changest, On returning home, thy boots.

p. 6SHELTER.

By the wide lake’s margin I mark’d her lie— The wide, weird lake where the alders sigh— A young fair thing, with a shy, soft eye; And I deem’d that her thoughts had flown To her home, and her brethren, and sisters dear, As she lay there watching the dark, deep mere, All motionless, all alone.

Then I heard a noise, as of men and boys, And a boisterous troop drew nigh. Whither now will retreat those fairy feet? Where hide till the storm pass by? p. 7One glance—the wild glance of a hunted thing— She cast behind her; she gave one spring; And there follow’d a splash and a broadening ring On the lake where the alders sigh.

She had gone from the ken of ungentle men! Yet scarce did I mourn for that; For I knew she was safe in her own home then, And, the danger past, would appear again, For she was a water-rat.

p. 8IN THE GLOAMING.

In the Gloaming to be roaming, where the crested waves are foaming, And the shy mermaidens combing locks that ripple to their feet; When the Gloaming is, I never made the ghost of an endeavour To discover—but whatever were the hour, it would be sweet.

“To their feet,” I say, for Leech’s sketch indisputably teaches That the mermaids of our beaches do not end in ugly tails, p. 9Nor have homes among the corals; but are shod with neat balmorals, An arrangement no one quarrels with, as many might with scales.

Sweet to roam beneath a shady cliff, of course with some young lady, Lalage, Neæra, Haidee, or Elaine, or Mary Ann: Love, you dear delusive dream, you! Very sweet your victims deem you, When, heard only by the seamew, they talk all the stuff one can.

Sweet to haste, a licensed lover, to Miss Pinkerton the glover, Having managed to discover what is dear Neæra’s “size”: p. 10P’raps to touch that wrist so slender, as your tiny gift you tender, And to read you’re no offender, in those laughing hazel eyes.

Then to hear her call you “Harry,” when she makes you fetch and carry— O young men about to marry, what a blessed thing it is! To be photograph’d—together—cased in pretty Russia leather— Hear her gravely doubting whether they have spoilt your honest phiz!

Then to bring your plighted fair one first a ring—a rich and rare one— Next a bracelet, if she’ll wear one, and a heap of things beside; p. 11And serenely bending o’er her, to inquire if it would bore her To say when her own adorer may aspire to call her bride!

Then, the days of courtship over, with your WIFE to start for Dover Or Dieppe—and live in clover evermore, whate’er befalls: For I’ve read in many a novel that, unless they’ve souls that grovel, Folks prefer in fact a hovel to your dreary marble halls:

To sit, happy married lovers; Phillis trifling with a plover’s Egg, while Corydon uncovers with a grace the Sally Lunn, p. 12Or dissects the lucky pheasant—that, I think, were passing pleasant; As I sit alone at present, dreaming darkly of a Dun.

p. 13THE PALACE.

They come, they come, with fife and drum, And gleaming pikes and glancing banners: Though the eyes flash, the lips are dumb; To talk in rank would not be manners. Onward they stride, as Britons can; The ladies following in the Van.

Who, who be these that tramp in threes Through sumptuous Piccadilly, through The roaring Strand, and stand at ease At last ’neath shadowy Waterloo? Some gallant Guild, I ween, are they; Taking their annual holiday.

p. 14To catch the destin’d train—to pay Their willing fares, and plunge within it— Is, as in old Romaunt they say, With them the work of half-a-minute. Then off they’re whirl’d, with songs and shouting, To cedared Sydenham for their outing.

I mark’d them light, with faces bright As pansies or a new coin’d florin, And up the sunless stair take flight, Close-pack’d as rabbits in a warren. Honour the Brave, who in that stress Still trod not upon Beauty’s dress!

Kerchief in hand I saw them stand; In every kerchief lurk’d a lunch; When they unfurl’d them, it was grand To watch bronzed men and maidens crunch The sounding celery-stick, or ram The knife into the blushing ham.

p. 15Dash’d the bold fork through pies of pork; O’er hard-boil’d eggs the saltspoon shook; Leapt from its lair the playful cork: Yet some there were, to whom the brook Seem’d sweetest beverage, and for meat They chose the red root of the beet.

Then many a song, some rather long, Came quivering up from girlish throats; And one young man he came out strong, And gave “The Wolf” without his notes. While they who knew not song or ballad Still munch’d, approvingly, their salad.

But ah! what bard could sing how hard, The artless banquet o’er, they ran Down the soft slope with daisies starr’d And kingcups! onward, maid with man, They flew, to scale the breezy swing, Or court frank kisses in the ring.

p. 16Such are the sylvan scenes that thrill This heart! The lawns, the happy shade, Where matrons, whom the sunbeams grill, Stir with slow spoon their lemonade; And maidens flirt (no extra charge) In comfort at the fountain’s marge!

Others may praise the “grand displays” Where “fiery arch,” “cascade,” and “comet,” Set the whole garden in a “blaze”! Far, at such times, may I be from it; Though then the public may be “lost In wonder” at a trifling cost.

Fann’d by the breeze, to puff at ease My faithful pipe is all I crave: And if folks rave about the “trees Lit up by fireworks,” let them rave. Your monster fêtes, I like not these; Though they bring grist to the lessees.

p. 17PEACE. A STUDY.

He stood, a worn-out City clerk— Who’d toil’d, and seen no holiday, For forty years from dawn to dark— Alone beside Caermarthen Bay.

He felt the salt spray on his lips; Heard children’s voices on the sands; Up the sun’s path he saw the ships Sail on and on to other lands;

And laugh’d aloud. Each sight and sound To him was joy too deep for tears; He sat him on the beach, and bound A blue bandana round his ears:

p. 18And thought how, posted near his door, His own green door on Camden Hill, Two bands at least, most likely more, Were mingling at their own sweet will

Verdi with Vance. And at the thought He laugh’d again, and softly drew That Morning Herald that he’d bought Forth from his breast, and read it through.

p. 19THE ARAB.

On, on, my brown Arab, away, away! Thou hast trotted o’er many a mile to-day, And I trow right meagre hath been thy fare Since they roused thee at dawn from thy straw-piled lair, To tread with those echoless unshod feet Yon weltering flats in the noontide heat, Where no palmtree proffers a kindly shade And the eye never rests on a cool grass blade; And lank is thy flank, and thy frequent cough Oh! it goes to my heart—but away, friend, off!

And yet, ah! what sculptor who saw thee stand, As thou standest now, on thy Native Strand, p. 20With the wild wind ruffling thine uncomb’d hair, And thy nostril upturn’d to the od’rous air, Would not woo thee to pause till his skill might trace At leisure the lines of that eager face; The collarless neck and the coal-black paws And the bit grasp’d tight in the massive jaws; The delicate curve of the legs, that seem Too slight for their burden—and, O, the gleam Of that eye, so sombre and yet so gay! Still away, my lithe Arab, once more away!

Nay, tempt me not, Arab, again to stay; Since I crave neither Echo nor Fun to-day. For thy hand is not Echoless—there they are Fun, Glowworm, and Echo, and Evening Star: And thou hintest withal that thou fain would’st shine, p. 21As I con them, these bulgy old boots of mine. But I shrink from thee, Arab! Thou eat’st eel-pie, Thou evermore hast at least one black eye; There is brass on thy brow, and thy swarthy hues Are due not to nature but handling shoes; And the hit in thy mouth, I regret to see, Is a bit of tobacco-pipe—Flee, child, flee!

p. 22LINES ON HEARING THE ORGAN.

Grinder, who serenely grindest At my door the Hundredth Psalm, Till thou ultimately findest Pence in thy unwashen palm:

Grinder, jocund-hearted Grinder, Near whom Barbary’s nimble son, Poised with skill upon his hinder Paws, accepts the proffered bun:

Dearly do I love thy grinding; Joy to meet thee on thy road Where thou prowlest through the blinding Dust with that stupendous load,

p. 23’Neath the baleful star of Sirius, When the postmen slowlier jog, And the ox becomes delirious, And the muzzle decks the dog.

Tell me by what art thou bindest On thy feet those ancient shoon: Tell me, Grinder, if thou grindest Always, always out of tune.

Tell me if, as thou art buckling On thy straps with eager claws, Thou forecastest, inly chuckling, All the rage that thou wilt cause.

Tell me if at all thou mindest When folks flee, as if on wings, From thee as at ease thou grindest: Tell me fifty thousand things.

p. 24Grinder, gentle-hearted Grinder! Ruffians who led evil lives, Soothed by thy sweet strains, are kinder To their bullocks and their wives:

Children, when they see thy supple Form approach, are out like shots; Half-a-bar sets several couple Waltzing in convenient spots;

Not with clumsy Jacks or Georges: Unprofaned by grasp of man Maidens speed those simple orgies, Betsey Jane with Betsey Ann.

As they love thee in St. Giles’s Thou art loved in Grosvenor Square: None of those engaging smiles is Unreciprocated there.

p. 25Often, ere yet thou hast hammer’d Through thy four delicious airs, Coins are flung thee by enamour’d Housemaids upon area stairs:

E’en the ambrosial-whisker’d flunkey Eyes thy boots and thine unkempt Beard and melancholy monkey More in pity than contempt.

Far from England, in the sunny South, where Anio leaps in foam, Thou wast rear’d, till lack of money Drew thee from thy vineclad home:

And thy mate, the sinewy Jocko, From Brazil or Afric came, Land of simoom and sirocco— And he seems extremely tame.

p. 26There he quaff’d the undefilèd Spring, or hung with apelike glee, By his teeth or tail or eyelid, To the slippery mango-tree:

There he woo’d and won a dusky Bride, of instincts like his own; Talk’d of love till he was husky In a tongue to us unknown:

Side by side ’twas theirs to ravage The potato ground, or cut Down the unsuspecting savage With the well-aim’d cocoa-nut:—

Till the miscreant Stranger tore him Screaming from his blue-faced fair; And they flung strange raiment o’er him, Raiment which he could not bear:

p. 27Sever’d from the pure embraces Of his children and his spouse, He must ride fantastic races Mounted on reluctant sows:

But the heart of wistful Jocko Still was with his ancient flame In the nutgroves of Morocco; Or if not it’s all the same.

Grinder, winsome grinsome Grinder! They who see thee and whose soul Melts not at thy charms, are blinder Than a trebly-bandaged mole:

They to whom thy curt (yet clever) Talk, thy music and thine ape, Seem not to be joys for ever, Are but brutes in human shape.

p. 28’Tis not that thy mien is stately, ’Tis not that thy tones are soft; ’Tis not that I care so greatly For the same thing play’d so oft:

But I’ve heard mankind abuse thee; And perhaps it’s rather strange, But I thought that I would choose thee For encomium, as a change.