Ballade of Æsthetic Adjectives

There be “subtle” and “sweet,” that are bad ones to beat,
There are “lives unlovely,” and “souls astray;”
There is much to be done yet with “moody” and “meet,”
And “ghastly,” and “grimly,” and “gaunt,” and “grey;”
We should ever be “blithesome,” but never be gay,
And “splendid” is suited to “summer” and “sea;”
“Consummate,” they say, is enjoying its day,—
“Intense” is the adjective dearest to me!

The Snows and the Rose they are “windy” and “fleet,”
And “frantic” and “faint” are Delight and Dismay;
Yea, “sanguine,” it seems, as the juice of the beet,
Are “the hands of the King” in a general way:
There be loves that quicken, and sicken, and slay;
“Supreme” is the song of the Bard of the free;
But of adjectives all that I name in my lay,
“Intense” is the adjective dearest to me!

The Matron intense—let us sit at her feet,
And pelt her with lilies as long as we may;
The Maiden intense—is not always discreet;
But the Singer intense, in his “singing array,”
Will win all the world with his roundelay:
While “blithe” birds carol from tree to tree,
And Art unto Nature doth simper, and say,—
“‘Intense’ is the adjective dearest to me!”

ENVOY.

Prince, it is surely as good as a play
To mark how the poets and painters agree;
But of plumage æsthetic that feathers the jay,
“Intense” is the adjective dearest to me!