Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. V. Browning to Rupert Brooke
Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821–1895)My Mistress’s Boots
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I tremble when they come
Pit-a-pat:
This palpitation means
These Boots are Geraldine’s—
Think of that!
So delicate a skin
For her feet?
You lucky little kid,
You perish’d, so you did,
For my Sweet.
On the sides, and in the seams,
And reveals
That the Pixies were the wags
Who tipt these funny tags,
And these heels.
Had Crusoe, sick of self,
Chanced to view
One printed near the tide,
O, how hard he would have tried
For the two!
And innocent and fair
As a rose;
She’s an Angel in a frock,—
She’s an Angel with a clock
To her hose!
Their pretty toes to please
Mandarins,
Would positively flinch
From venturing to pinch
Geraldine’s!
To Geraldine’s were frights:
And I trow
The Damsel, deftly shod,
Has dutifully trod
Until now.
Such a pretty Puss (in Boots)
These to don,
Set your dainty hand awhile
On my shoulder, Dear, and I’ll
Put them on.
A