And for a spell thereafter
      That unknown damsel’s face
  With its worshipful expression
      Pursued me every place;
  Meseemed to hear her whisper: 
      ``O, thank you, gifted sir,
  For the overwhelming honor
      You so graciously confer!’’

  But a catalogue from Benjamin’s
      Disproves what things meseemed—­
  Dispels with savage certainty
      The flattering dreams I dreamed;
  For that poor ``favorite poem,’’
      Done and signed in autograph,
  Is listed in ``Cheap Items’’
      At a dollar-and-a-half.