"Through the thick bushes And the grass comes she With a heartload of longing And love for me. "Sir, enjoy your fancy, But spare me harm, A lover is a lover, Though but a worm." POT AND KETTLE. Come close to me, dear Annie, while I bind a lover's knot. A tale of burning love between a kettle and a pot. The pot was stalwart iron and the kettle trusty tin, And though their sides were black with smoke they bubbled love within. Forget that kettle, Jamie, and that pot of boiling broth, I know a dismal story of a candle and a moth. For while your pot is boiling and while your kettle sings My moth makes love to candle flame and burns away his wings. Your moth, I envy, Annie, that died by candle flame, But here are two more lovers, unto no damage came. There was a cuckoo loved a clock and found her always true. For every hour they told their hearts, "Ring! ting! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!" As the pot boiled for the kettle, as the kettle for the pot, So boils my love within me till my breast is glowing hot. As the moth died for the candle, so could I die for you. And my fond heart beats time with yours and cries, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!" GHOST RADDLED. "Come, surly fellow, come! A song!" What, madmen? Sing to you? Choose from the clouded tales of wrong And terror I bring to you. Of a night so torn with cries, Honest men sleeping Start awake with glaring eyes, Bone-chilled, flesh creeping. Of spirits in the web hung room Up above the stable, Groans, knockings in the gloom, The dancing table. Of demons in the dry well That cheep and mutter, Clanging of an unseen bell, Blood choking the gutter. Of lust frightful, past belief, Lurking unforgotten, Unrestrainable endless grief From breasts long rotten. A song? What laughter or what song Can this house remember? Do flowers and butterflies belong To a blind December? NEGLECTFUL EDWARD. Nancy "Edward back from the Indian Sea, What have you brought for Nancy?" Edward "A rope of pearls and a gold earring, And a bird of the East that will not sing. A carven tooth, a box with a key--" Nancy "God be praised you are back," says she, "Have you nothing more for your Nancy?" Edward "Long as I sailed the Indian Sea I gathered all for your fancy: Toys and silk and jewels I bring, And a bird of the East that will not sing: What more can you want, dear girl, from me?" Nancy "God be praised you are back," said she, "Have you nothing better for Nancy?" Edward "Safe and home from the Indian Sea, And nothing to take your fancy?" Nancy