1869

ATALANTA IN CAMDEN-TOWN

by Lewis Carroll

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.