about it.

p. 92THE DELIGHTS OF MATHEMATICS

p. 92

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, p. 93 The sparrow, whether cock or hen,  Knew quite as much about Quadratics, Was less confused by x and n, The deep delights of Mathematics.

p. 93

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.

p. 94STANZAS FOR MUSIC

p. 94

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; p. 95 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.

p. 95

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?’ p. 96 And the answer I half expected Comes from the solemn yew, 

 Prev. P 24/32 next