Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLADE OF DREAMS TRANSPOSED, by FRANK GELETT BURGESS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLADE OF DREAMS TRANSPOSED, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Some may like to be shut in a cage
Last Line: Then I'll marry and settle down.
Alternate Author Name(s): Burgess, Gelett
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers; Wanderlust; Vagabonds; Tramps; Hoboes


SOME may like to be shut in a cage,
Cooped in a corner, a-tippling tea,
Some may in troublesome toil engage;
But the luck of a rover's the thing for me!
Over the mountain and over the sea,
Now in the country and now in the town,
And when I'm wrinkled and withered, maybe,
Then I'll marry and settle down.

Some may pore over printed page
And never know bird, nor beast, nor tree,
Watching the world from book or stage;
But the luck of a rover's the thing for me!
So ho! for the forest, and ho! for the lea,
And ho! for the river and prairie brown,
And ho! for a gay long jubilee,—
Then I'll marry and settle down.

Why should I wait till a gray old age
Brings me chance to be rich and free?
I have no money—it makes me rage;
But the luck of a rover's the thing for me!
Though oft, with my lover upon my knee
(She has frolicsome eyes and a fetching gown!)
I fear if my heart's to be held in fee,—
Then I'll marry and settle down.

ENVOY

Prince, my sweetheart will not agree,—
But the luck of a rover's the thing for me!
She says I must stay, and I fear her frown,—
Then I'll marry and settle down.





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