Title:  Prose Fancies (Second Series)

Author:  Richard Le Gallienne

Release Date:  November 20, 2004 [EBook #14103]

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

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PROSE FANCIES

(Second series)

BY

RICHARD LE GALLIENNE

LONDON:  JOHN LANE

Chicago:  H.S.  Stone and Co.

1896

TO

MAGGIE LE GALLIENNE

WITH LOVE

  Poor are the gifts of the poet—­
  Nothing but words! 
  The gifts of kings are gold,
  Silver, and flocks and herds,
  Garments of strange soft silk,
  Feathers of wonderful birds,
  Jewels and precious stones,
  And horses white as the milk—­
  These are the gifts of kings: 
  But the gifts that the poet brings
  Are nothing but words.

  Forty thousand words! 
  Take them—­a gift of flies! 
  Words that should have been birds,
  Words that should have been flowers,
  Words that should have been stars
  In the eternal skies. 
  Forty thousand words! 
  Forty thousand tears—­
  All out of two sad eyes.

  Contents page

A seventh-story heaven,                                 1
spring by parcel post,                                 20
the great merry-go-round,                              27
the burial of Romeo and Juliet,                        39
variations upon whitebait,                             49
the answer of the rose,                                58
about the securities,                                  67
the boom in yellow,                                    79
letter to an unsuccessful literary man,                90
A poet in the city,                                    98
brown roses,                                          108
the donkey that loved A star,                         112
on loving one’s enemies,                              119
the dramatic art of life,                             125
the arbitrary classification of sex,                  135
the fallacy of A nation,                              145
the greatness of man,                                 154
death and two friends,                                171
A seaport in the moon,                                187

A SEVENTH-STORY HEAVEN