<h2><SPAN name="page43"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>THE LADY AND THE DAME</h2>
<p class="poetry">So, thou hast the art, good dame, thou
swearest,<br/>
To keep Time’s perishing touch at bay<br/>
From the roseate splendour of the cheek so tender,<br/>
And the silver threads from the gold away.<br/>
And the tell-tale years that have hurried by us<br/>
Shall tip-toe back, and, with kind good-will,<br/>
They shall take the traces from off our faces,<br/>
If we will trust to thy magic skill.</p>
<p class="poetry">Thou speakest fairly; but if I listen<br/>
And buy thy secret, and prove its truth,<br/>
Hast thou the potion and magic lotion<br/>
To give me also the <i>heart</i> of youth?<br/>
With the cheek of rose and the eye of beauty,<br/>
And the lustrous looks of life’s lost
prime,<br/>
Wilt thou bring thronging each hope and longing<br/>
That made the glory of that dead Time?</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page44"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
44</span>When the sap in the trees sets young buds bursting,<br/>
And the song of the birds fills the air like
spray,<br/>
Will rivers of feeling come once more stealing<br/>
From the beautiful hills of the far-away?<br/>
Wilt thou demolish the tower of reason,<br/>
And fling for ever down into the dust<br/>
The caution time brought me, the lessons life taught me,<br/>
And put in their places my old sweet trust?</p>
<p class="poetry">If Time’s foot-print from my brow is
driven,<br/>
Canst thou, too, take with thy subtle powers<br/>
The burden of thinking, and let me go drinking<br/>
The careless pleasures of youth’s bright
hours?<br/>
If silver threads from my tresses vanish,<br/>
If a glow once more in my pale cheek gleams,<br/>
Wilt thou slay duty and give back the beauty<br/>
Of days untroubled by aught but dreams?</p>
<p class="poetry">When the soft fair arms of the siren Summer<br/>
Encircle the earth in their languorous fold,<br/>
Will vast, deep oceans of sweet emotions<br/>
Surge through my veins as they surged of old?<br/>
Canst thou bring back from a day long-vanished<br/>
The leaping pulse and the boundless aim?<br/>
I will pay thee double, for all thy trouble,<br/>
If thou wilt restore all these, good dame.</p>
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