Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HIS MODEST WISH, by RAY CLARKE ROSE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HIS MODEST WISH, by                    
First Line: I know, alas, fair dame, that you
Last Line: Oh, let me be your scepter-bearer!
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Love - Complaints; Man-woman Relationships; Modesty; Wishes; Male-female Relations


I know, alas, fair dame, that you
May well deride this slender ditty,
And laugh to scorn the rhymester who
Now scorns to laugh, more is the pity!
But Cupid treats me with disdain
When in your neat suburban cottage;
And so his favor I would gain
By means of this small bit of pottage.

I met you first at Madame Fine's
And watched your dancing through the german.
Your feet were lighter than her wines;
You juggled with my heart like—Herrmann!
You wore a flower coronet
Whose blooms were dimmed by those below it;
The blossoms crowned you queen, and yet
You needed no such mark to show it.

Your white arms were twin scepters such
As no queen ever had save Venus;
And could I once but feel their touch
No monarch would dare come between us!
And this, dear queen, is what I ask—
Nor could a vassal wish be fairer—
On bended knee I pray the task:
Oh, let me be your scepter-bearer!





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