Читать книгу The Lazy Minstrel - Ashby-Sterry Joseph - Страница 20

A WAY with all sorrow, away with all gloom,

Now may is in blossom, and lilac in bloom;

The golden laburnum in gardens is gay,

The windows are bright with their floral display;

The air is delightful, and warm is the sun,

The chesnuts are snowy, the Derby is won.

Piccadilly is pleasant from daylight to dark,

And Bond Street is crowded, and gay is the Park —

So now is the time when you all ought to go,

And sit on a Chair 'neath the trees in the Row!

For only a penny I sit in the shade,

And gaze with delight on the gay cavalcade!

While countless romances I read if I please,

In the people I see from my Chair 'neath the trees.

'Tis better by far than an Opera-stall,

A crowded At-home or a smart fancy ball;

Or gazing at pictures, or playing at pool,

Or playing the banjo, or playing the fool —

When soft summer breezes from Kensington blow,

'Tis pleasant to sit on a Chair in the Row!

What studies of man and of woman and horse

Here pass up and down on the tan-trodden course!

The Earl and the Duke and the Doctor are there,

The author, the actor, the great millionaire;

The first-season beauties whose roses are red,

The third-season beauties whose roses have fled!

M.P.'s, upon cobs, chatting pleasantly there,

And pets, upon ponies, with long sunny hair —

I note them all down, as they pass to and fro,

And muse in my Chair 'neath the trees in the Row!

What countless fair pictures around may be seen,

How colours flash bright on their background of green!

A bouquet of figure, of fashion, of face,

And dainty devices in linen and lace!

The triumphs of Worth and of Madame Elise

You see as you wonder and moon 'neath the trees.

What sweet scraps of scandal afloat in the air,

And gossip you hear sitting silently there! —

But folks are going lunchwards; I'll join them, and so

I ponder no more in my Chair in the Row!