At length, by so much importunity pressed,
Take, C------, at once, the inside of my breast;
This stupid indifference so often you blame
Is not owing to nature, to fear, or to shame;
I am not as cold as a Virgin in lead,
Nor is Sunday's sermon so strong in my head;
I know but too well how time flies along,
That we live but few years and yet fewer are young.

But I hate to be cheated, and never will buy
Long years of repentance for moments of joy.
Oh was there a man (but where shall I find
Good sense and good nature so equally joined?)

At least to pray is left, is left.
O Jesus! in the air
I know not which thy chamber is,—
I'm knocking everywhere.

Thou stirrest earthquake in the South,
And maelstrom in the sea;
Say, Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
Hast thou no arm for me?

At Guaymas I born in this various world,
But I spik Ingless, as ustedes see;
I was nice children's hoss, my mane was curled;
Then for ten dollar' one day they sell me.
Then I much travel, trade from hand to hand,
And learn much languages to understand.

How ole I am? Oh, my, no more don't know!
How much I cost? Three drinks las' time they pay.
What can I do? Why go, an' go, an' go,
Or stand, an' stand, an' stand the whole long day.
Oh no, señor, yiou mus' not be distress'!
A hoss gets used to several things, I guess.

As when a child on some long winter's night
Affrighted clinging to its Grandam's knees
With eager wond'ring and perturbed delight
Listens strange tales of fearful dark decrees
Muttered to wretch by necromantic spell;
Or of those hags, who at the witching time
Of murky midnight ride the air sublime,
And mingle foul embrace with fiends of Hell:
Cold Horror drinks its blood! Anon the tear
More gentle starts, to hear the Beldame tell
Of pretty babes, that loved each other dear,
Murdered by cruel Uncle's mandate fell:

As sometimes with a sable Cloud
We see the Heav'ns bow'd,
And darkning all the aire,
Untill the lab'ring fires they do contain
Break forth again,
Ev'n so from under your black hair
I saw such an unusual blaze
Light'ning and sparkling from your eyes,
And with unused prodigies
Forcing such terrors and amaze,
That I did judge your Empire here
Was not of love alone, but fear.

But as all that is violent
Doth by degrees relent,
So when that sweetest face,
Growing at last to be serene and clear,
Did now appear

As one, at midnight wakened by the call
Of golden plovers in their seaward flight,
Who lies and listens as the clear notes fall
Through tingling quiet of the frosty night,
Who lies and listens as the wild notes fail,
And then, in fancy following the flock,
Fares over slumbering hill and dreaming dale,
Until he hears the surf on reef and rock
Break thundering, and all sense of self is drowned
Within the mightier music of the deep,
And he no more recalls the piping sound
That startled him from dull undreaming sleep—
So I, first waking from oblivion, heard,

As I was a-going to Strawberry Fair,
Ri toll ri toll, riddle tol de lido
I saw a fair maiden of beauty rare,
Tol de dee.
I saw a young maiden go selling her ware
As she went on to Strawberry Fair,
Ri tol, ri tol riddle tol de lido,
Ri tol, ri tol, riddle tol de dee.

‘O pretty fair maid, I prithee, tell,
My pretty fair maid, what do you sell?
Oh come tell my truly, my sweet damsel,
As you go on to Strawberry Fair.’

‘Oh I have a lock that doth lack a key,
Oh I have a lock, sir,’ she did say.
‘If you have a key then come this way,

As Iwandered round the homestead,
Many a dear, familiar spot
Brought within my recollection
Scenes I'd seemingly forgot.
There the orchard meadow yonder,
Here the deep, old-fashioned well,
With its old moss-covered bucket,
Sent a thrill no tongue can tell.

Though the house was held by strangers,
All remained the same within,
Just as when a child I rambled
Up and down and out and in.
To the garret dark, ascending,
Once a source of childish dread,
Peering through the misty cobwebs,
Lo, I saw my trundle bed.

And thou hast walked about (how strange a story!)
In Thebes's streets three thousand years ago,
When the Memnonium was in all its glory,
And time had not begun to overthrow
—Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous
—Of which the very ruins are tremendous.

Speak! for thou long enough hast acted dummy.
Thou hast a tongue,—come, let us hear its tune;
Thou'rt standing on thy legs, above ground, mummy!
Revisiting the glimpses of the moon,—
—Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures,
—But with thy bones and flesh, and limbs and features.

And Bidpai said
the thieves have stormed
across the harbor mole,
they've broken the ship's mast
and plundered its precious cargo,
the captain is still
searching through the alleys
for his old telescope.
It is this story, Dabshalim
I see unfolding, chapter by chapter.