WE children every morn would wait For Catharine, at the garden gate; Behind school-time, her sunny hair Would melt the master's frown of care, What time his hand but threatened pain, Shaking aloft his awful cane; So here one summer's morn we wait For Catharine at the garden gate. To Dave I say -- "There's sure to be Some coral isle unknown at sea, And -- if I see it first -- 'tis mine! But I'll give it to Catharine." "When she grows up," says Dave to me, "Some ruler in a far countree, Where every voice but his is dumb, Owner of pearls, and gold, and gum, Will build for her a shining throne, Higher than his, and near his own; And he, who would not list before, Will listen to Catharine, and adore Her face and form; and," Dave went on -- When came a man there pale and wan, Whose face was dark and wet though kind, He, coming there, seemed like a wind Whose breath is rain, yet will not stop To give the parched flowers a drop: "Go, children, to your school," he said -- "And tell the master Catharine's dead." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A GAGE D'AMOUR by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON GEORGE WASHINGTON by JOHN HALL INGHAM THE FIELD MOUSE by WILLIAM SHARP UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 21. REQUIEM by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE REQUEST. TO LOVE by PHILIP AYRES THE LOVE SONNETS OF PROTEUS: 38. TO ONE NOW ESTRANGED by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT A CAROL FOR CHRISTMAS DAY BEFORE DAWN by GORDON BOTTOMLEY TO THE MARQUIS LA FAYETTE by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: DESIRE by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |