what's o'clock
171
For days and days I wandered there,
For Oh! My love was very fair!
Each night I watched her lean and stand,
With empty heart and empty hand.
While every passer-by she scanned.
But I beheld what was not meet
For all to see—a parrakeet
Of gauzy substance which could cast
No slightest shadow where it passed,
Fluttering with indecent glee
Between my hungering love and me.
Ten months went by, and then one day
It struck my face and flew away.
Some odd obedience in my feet
Compelled me after, street by street,
And then along a country lane.
I had no power to turn again.
Next morning took me farther still,
My feet usurped the place of will.
For Oh! My love was very fair!
Each night I watched her lean and stand,
With empty heart and empty hand.
While every passer-by she scanned.
But I beheld what was not meet
For all to see—a parrakeet
Of gauzy substance which could cast
No slightest shadow where it passed,
Fluttering with indecent glee
Between my hungering love and me.
Ten months went by, and then one day
It struck my face and flew away.
Some odd obedience in my feet
Compelled me after, street by street,
And then along a country lane.
I had no power to turn again.
Next morning took me farther still,
My feet usurped the place of will.
