"But when moonlight charms her mood, Like a crocodile she weeps, Which from out some luke-warm stream Lifts to gape in cooler air. "And she cooks me dainty bits. See, I thrive! I feed again As upon the Niger I Fed with gusto African! "Mark the nicely rounded paunch I possess! Behold it peeps From my shirt like some black moon Stealing forth from whitest clouds." [Illustration] [Illustration] CANTO XXVII (To August Varnhagen von Ense) "Heavens! where, dear Ludoviso, Did you steal this crazy stuff?" With these words did Cardinal D'Este Ariosto greet When that poet read his work On Orlando's madness. This He unto His Eminence Humbly sought to dedicate. Yes, Varnhagen, dear old friend, Yes, I see these very words Tremble on thy lips, that same Faint and devastating smile. Sometimes o'er a book thou laughest, Then again in earnestness Thy high forehead wrinkles o'er As old memories come to thee. Hark unto the dreams of youth! Such Chamisso dreamed with me, And Brentano, Fouqué, too, In blue nights beneath the moon. Comes no sound of saintly chimes From that vanished forest fane, And no tinkling of the gay Unforgotten cap-and-bells? Through the choir of nightingales Rumbles now the growl of bears, Low and fierce, and changes then To the gibbering of ghosts! Madness in the guise of sense, Wisdom with a broken spine! Dying sobs which suddenly Into hollow laughter pass! Aye, my friend, such strains arise From the dream-time that is dead, Though some modern trills may oft Caper through the ancient theme. Spite of waywardness thou'lt find Here and there a note of pain;-- To thy well-proved mildness now Do I recommend my song! 'Tis, perchance, the final strain Of the pure and free Romance:-- In to-day's wild battle-clash, Miserably it must end. Other times and other birds! Other birds and other songs! What a chattering as of geese That had saved a capitol! What a chirping!--sparrows these Penny tapers in their claws, Yet have they assumed the ways Of Jove's eagle with the bolt. What a cooing! Turtle-doves, Cloyed with love, now long to hate, And thenceforth in place of Venus' They would drag Bellona's car! What a buzz that shakes the skies!-- These must be the great May-beetles Of the nation's dawning Spring, With a Viking fury seized! Other times and other birds! Other birds and other songs;-- These, perchance, might yield delight Were I blest with other ears! [Illustration] NOTES TO "ATTA TROLL" BY DR. OSCAR LEVY PREFACE