From Pentecost and Ponder’s End They write: from Deal, and from Dacotah, The people of the Shetlands send No inconsiderable quota; They write for autographs; in vain, In vain does Phyllis write, and Flora, They write that Allan Quatermain Is not at all the book for Brora.

p. 69They write to say that they have met This writer ‘at a garden party, And though’ this writer ‘may forget,’  Their recollection’s keen and hearty. ‘And will you praise in your reviews A novel by our distant cousin?’ These letters from Provincial Blues Assail us daily by the dozen!

p. 69

O friends with time upon your hands, O friends with postage-stamps in plenty, O poets out of many lands, O youths and maidens under twenty, Seek out some other wretch to bore, Or wreak yourselves upon your neighbours, And leave me to my dusty lore And my unprofitable labours!

p. 70BALLADE OF DIFFICULT RHYMES

p. 70

With certain rhymes ’tis hard to deal; For ‘silver’ we have ne’er a rhyme. On ‘orange’ (as on orange peel)  The bard has slipped full many a time. With ‘babe’ there’s scarce a sound will chime, Though ‘astrolabe’ fits like a glove; But, ye that on Parnassus climb, Why, why are rhymes so rare to Love?

With

A rhyme to ‘cusp,’ to beg or steal, I’ve sought, from evensong to prime, But vain is my poetic zeal, There’s not one sound is worth a ‘dime’: ‘Bilge,’ ‘coif,’ ‘scarf,’ ‘window’—deeds of crime I’d do to gain the rhymes thereof; Nor shrink from acts of moral grime—  Why, why are rhymes so rare to Love?

p. 71To ‘dove’ my fancies flit, and wheel Like butterflies on banks of thyme. ‘Above’?—or ‘shove’—alas! I feel, They’re too much used to be sublime. I scorn with angry pantomime, The thought of ‘move’ (pronounced as muv). Ah, in Apollo’s golden clime Why, why are rhymes so rare to Love?

p. 71

ENVOI

Prince of the lute and lyre, reveal New rhymes, fresh minted, from above, Nor still be deaf to our appeal. Why, why are rhymes so rare to Love?

p. 72BALLANT O’ BALLANTRAE

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