Part 16 (1/2)

So Napoleon wiped his eye, and he wished the Prince good-bye, And being stony-broke, made the best of it he could, And they kept him snugly pensioned, where his Royal Highness mentioned, And Napoleon Boneyparty is provided for for good.

Now of that I don't complain, but I ask and ask in vain, Why me, a British soldier, as has lost a useful arm Through fighting of the foe, when the trumpets ceased to blow, Should be forced to feed the pigs on a little Surrey farm,

While him as fought with us, and created such a fuss, And in the whole of Europe did a mighty deal of harm, Should be kept upon a rock, like a precious fighting c.o.c.k, And be found in beer and baccy, which would suit me to a charm?

DEATH AT THE WINDOW

This morning, while we sat in talk Of spring and apple-bloom, Lo! Death stood in the garden walk, And peered into the room.

Your back was turned, you did not see The shadow that he made.

He bent his head and looked at me; It made my soul afraid.

The words I had begun to speak Fell broken in the air.

You saw the pallor of my cheek, And turned--but none was there.

He came as sudden as a thought, And so departed too.

What made him leave his task unwrought?

It was the sight of you.

Though Death but seldom turns aside From those he means to take, He would not yet our hearts divide, For love and pity's sake.

MAKE-BELIEVES

When I was young and well and glad, I used to play at being sad; Now youth and health are fled away, At being glad I sometimes play.

A COINCIDENCE

Every critic in the town Runs the minor poet down; Every critic--don't you know it?

Is himself a minor poet.

ART'S DISCIPLINE

Long since I came into the school of Art, A child in works, but not a child in heart.

Slowly I learn, by her instruction mild, To be in works a man, in heart a child.