A Babylonish Ditty

More than several years have faded
Since my heart was first invaded
By a brown-skinned, gray-eyed siren
On the merry old "South-side;"
Where the mill-flume cataracts glisten,
And the agile blue fish listen
To the fleet of phantom schooners,
Floating on the weedy tide

There, amid the sandy reaches,
In among the pines and beeches,
Oaks, and various other kinds of
Old primeval forest trees,
Did we wander in the noon-light
Or beneath the silver moon-light,
While in ledges sighed the sedges,
To the salt salubrious breeze.

Oh, I loved her as a sister,
Often, oftentimes, I kissed her,
Holding prest against my vest
Her slender, soft, seductive hand;
Often by my midnight taper,
Filled at least a quire of paper
With some graphic ode or sapphic
"To the nymph of Baby Land."

Oft we saw the dim blue highlands,
Coney, Oak, and other islands,
(Motes that dot the dimpled bosom
Of the sunny summer sea,)
Or, mid polished leaves of lotus,
Wheresoe'er our skiff would float us,
Anywhere, where none could note us,
There we sought alone to be.

Thus, till summer was senescent,
And the woods were iridescent,
Dolphin tints and hectic tints
Of what was shortly coming on,
Did I worship Amy Milton;
Fragile was the faith I built on! —
Then we parted, broken hearted
I, when she left Babylon.

As upon the moveless water,
Lies the motionless frigata, —
Flings her spars and spidery outlines,
Lightly on the lucid plain, —
But whene'er the fresh breeze bloweth
To more distant oceans goeth,
Never more the old haunt knoweth,
Never more returns again, —

So is woman, evanescent,
Shifting with the shifting present,
Changing like the changing tide,
And faithless as the fickle sea;
Lighter than the wind-blown thistle,
Falser than the fowler's whistle,
Was that coaxing piece of hoaxing —
Amy Milton's love for me.

Yes, thou transitory bubble!
Floating on this sea of trouble,
Though the sky be bright above thee,
Soon will sunny days be gone;
Then, when thou 'rt by all forsaken,
Will thy bankrupt heart awaken
To these golden days of olden
Times in happy Babylon!