THE TIME OF ROSES. T was not in the winter Our loving lot was cast; It was the time of roses We plucked them as we passed! That churlish season never frowned On early lovers yet; Oh no!-the world was newly crowned With flowers when first we met. 'Twas twilight, and I bade you go, But still you held me fast ; It was the time of roses We plucked them as we passed! What else could peer my glowing cheek, That tears began to stud? And when I asked the like of love, You snatched a damask bud And oped it to the dainty core, Still blowing to the last; It was the time of roses We plucked them as we passed! THOMAS HOOD. LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY. HE fountains mingle with the river, With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single, In one another's being mingle- See the mountains kiss high heaven, And the sunlight clasps the earth, PERCY BYSShe Shelley. NO JEWELLED BEAUTY IS MY LOVE. O jewelled beauty is my love, Yet in her earnest face There's such a world of tenderness, Her smiles and voice around my life And dear, oh! very dear to me Oh joy! to know there's one fond heart W It sets mine leaping like a lyre, In sweetest melody; To hear her voice divine; If ever I have sighed for wealth, But none, oh! none so dear to me GERALD MASSEY. THE LOW-BACKED CAR. HEN first I saw sweet Peggy, 'Twas on a market day: A low-backed car she drove, and sat But when that hay was blooming grass, As she sat in the low-backed car, But just rubbed his owld poll, And looked after the low-backed car. In battle's wild commotion, The proud and mighty Mars With hostile scythes demands his tithes While Peggy, peaceful goddess, Has darts in her bright eye, That knock men down in the market town As right and left they fly; While she sits in her low-backed car, For the doctor's art Cannot cure the heart That is hit from that low-backed car. Sweet Peggy round her car, sir, Has strings of ducks and geese, But the scores of hearts she slaughters By far outnumber these; While she among her poultry sits, Just like a turtle-dove, Well worth the cage, I do engage, Of the blooming god of love! While she sits in her low-backed car, The lovers come near and far, And envy the chicken As she sits in her low-backed car. |