Classic Poem

" AND you went once with myrtle crowned!"
You once were she, for whom
Poor G OLDSMITH'S gentle genius found
That name of jasmine-bloom!

How strange it seems! You whom he loved,
You who were breathing, vital,
Not feigned in books, for us have proved
Scarce but a fragrant title;

A shade too shadowy far to stand
Beside the girl Primroses —
Beside the dear old V ICAR , and
Our more-than-brother, M OSES !

We cannot guess your voice, who know
Scamp T ONY'S view-halloo;
For us e'en thin Beau T IBBS must show
More palpable than you!

Yet some scant news we have. You came,
When that kind soul had fled;
You begged his hair; you kept his name
Long on your lips, 'tis said;

You lived — and died. Or when, or how,
Who asks? This age of ours
But marks your grass-grown headstone now
By G OLDSMITH'S jasmine flowers!