Atalanta in Camden-Town E-book

                                      1869
                            ATALANTA IN CAMDEN-TOWN

                                by Lewis Carroll









Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)



          ATALANTA IN CAMDEN-TOWN
-
              AY, 'twas here, on this spot,
                In that summer of yore,
              Atalanta did not
                Vote my presence a bore,
      Nor reply to my tenderest talk "She had heard all that
          nonsense before".
-
              She'd the brooch I had bought
                And the necklace and sash on,
              And her heart, as I thought,
                Was alive to my passion;
      And she'd done up her hair in the style that the Empress
          had brought into fashion.
-
              I had been to the play
                With my pearl of a Peri-
              But, for all I could say,
                She declared she was weary,
      That "the place was so crowded and hot, and she couldn't
          abide that Dundreary".
-
                                          
              Then I thought "Lucky boy!
                'Tis for you that she whimpers!"
              And I noted with joy
                Those sensational simpers:
      And I said "This is scrumptious!"- a phrase I had learned
          from the Devonshire shrimpers.
-
              And I vowed "'Twill be said
                I'm a fortunate fellow,
              When the breakfast is spread,
                When the topers are mellow,
      When the foam of the bride-cake is white, and the fierce
          orange blossoms are yellow!"
-
              O that languishing yawn!
                O those eloquent eyes!
              I was drunk with the dawn
                Of a splendid surmise-
      I was stung by a look, I was slain by a tear, by a tempest
          of sighs.
                                          
-
              Then I whispered "I see
                The sweet secret thou keepest.
              And the yearning for ME
                That thou wistfully weepest!
      And the question is 'License or Banns?' though undoubtedly
          Banns are the cheapest."
-
              "Be my Hero," said I,
                "And let me be Leander!"
              But I lost her reply-
                Something ending with "gander"-
      For the omnibus rattled so loud that no mortal could quite
          understand her.
                                             THE END