Lines Suggested By The 14th of February

LINES SUGGESTED BY THE
FOURTEENTH OF
FEBRUARY

Darkness succeeds to twilight:
Through lattice and through skylight
The stars no doubt, if one looked out,
Might be observed to shine:
And sitting by the embers
I elevate my members
On a stray chair, and then and there
Commence a Valentine.

Yea ! by Saint Valentinus,
Emma shall not be minus
What all young ladies, whate'er their grade is,
Expect to-day no doubt :
Emma the fair, the stately,
Whom I beheld so lately,
Smiling beneath the snow-white wreath
Which told that she was "out."

Wherefore fly to her, swallow,
And mention that I 'd " follow,"
And " pipe and trill," et cetera, till
1 died, had I but wings:
Say the North f s " true and tender,"
The South an old offender;
And hint in fact, with your well-known tact,
All kinds of pretty things.

Say I grow hourly thinner,
Simply abhor my dinner.
Though 1 do try and absorb some viand
Each day for form's sake merely ;
And ask her, when all 's ended,
And I am found extended,
With vest blood-spotted and cut carotid,
To think on Her's sincerely.

Charles Stuart Calverley.