Come, heart's delight, the hour is near
When Passion's mandate we obey.

I would not, sweet, the fact convey
In any crude and obvious way:
I merely whisper in your ear--
"Love, it is night!"

Candor compels me, pet, to say
That years my fading charms betray.
Tho' Love be blind, I grant it's clear
I'm no Apollo Belvedere.
But after dark all cats are gray.
Love, it is night!

A BALLADE OF WOOL-GATHERING

Now is my season of unrest,
Now calls the forest, day and night;
And by its pleasant spell obsessed,
My wits go soaring like a kite.
Forgive me if I be not bright,
And pardon if I seem distrait;
Wood-fancies put my wits to flight;--
The woods are but a week away.

Palleth upon my soul the jest,
Falleth upon my pen a blight.
The daily task has lost its zest,
And everything is flat and trite.
There's nothing humorous in sight;
Don't mind if I am dull to-day.
For every column is a fight
When woods are but a week away.

Woods in the robes of summer dressed--
In greens and grays and browns bedight!
A journey on a river's breast,
Beneath the wedded blue-and-white!...
This end the Voyage of Delight
Waits, in a little wood-bound bay,
A bark canoe, all trim and tight;--
The woods are but a week away!

_L'Envoi_

Dear Reader, there is much to write;
I've many weighty things to say.
But who can write when woods invite,
And woods are but a week away!

TO THE SUN

(_Variations on a theme by Gilbert._)

Shine on, Old Top, shine on!
Across the realms of space
Shine on!
What though I'm in a sorry case?
What though my collar is a wreck,
And hangs a rag about my neck?
What though at food I can but peck?
Never _you_ mind!
Shine on!

Shine on, Old Top, shine on!
Through leagues of lifeless air
Shine on!
It's true I've no more shirts to wear,
My underwear is soaked, 'tis true,
My gullet is a redhot flue--
But don't let that unsettle you!
Never _you_ mind!
Shine on! [_It shines on._]

WHEN IT IS HOT

"_And Nebuchadnezzar commanded the most mighty men that were in his
army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into
the burning fiery furnace._"