Aunt Dorothys Lecture

Come, go and practise-get your work-

Do something, Nelly, pray.

I hate to see you moon about

In this uncertain way!

Why do you look so vacant, child?

I fear you must be ill.

Surely you are not thinking of

That Captain Cameron still?

Ah, yes-I fear’d so! You may blush;

I blush for you, my dear;

And it is scarce a week ago

Since Gerald brought him here-

The day he fell in the hunting-field,

And his pretty horse was lamed.

O child-and with your bringing up!

You ought to be ashamed.

Last night I saw you watching him,

And you danced with him thrice;

You turn’d quite red when he spoke to you-

Such manners are not nice.

You, Nelly Gray, should not be seen

(I don’t wish to be harsh)

Running wild, like the servant-girls,

For a red coat and moustache.

Not that he isn’t a gentleman

From spur to shako-brim-

I know good blood when I see it-yes,

I will say that for him.

He does not swagger, nor lisp, nor flirt-

Has none of those vulgar ways;

And he does not talk like a stable-boy,

As the fashion is nowadays.

In fact, I admire him very much-

My dear, you need not fret-

I do; he’s very different from

The rest of Gerald’s set.

He’s very handsome, certainly-

I don’t mind saying so.

He reminds me a bit of your uncle, when

I met him long ago.

He had a silky, long moustache

Of just that golden shade;

And broad Greek brows, with a tint of bronze,

That Indian suns had made.

He was a soldier, too, you know-

As big and strong and tall:

He’d just come home when I saw him first

At Lady Talbot’s ball.

I remember when we were introduced;

By stealth I look’d him o’er-

Such haughty, indolent, gentle eyes,

I never saw before!

I felt so strange when he look’d at me;

I cannot tell you why-

But I seem’d to feel he was mine, to keep

And love, till I should die.

‘Twas very odd-in a moment, too,

Before I knew his name!

But, Nelly-O how the world was changed

And brighten’d, when he came!

I was so restless all that night;-

I did not want to see,

I felt where he moved about the room

While he was away from me.

I was jealous-I could not help it,

Although I struggled hard-

Of the other girls, whose favour’d names

Were written on his card;

They were so rich, and I was poor;

They were so grandly dress’d,

And I so dowdy; and yet, and yet,

I thought he liked me best.

The last long hour he danced with them,

And oh I miss’d him so!

And then I heard our carriage call’d,

And I knew that I must go.

A big lump rose up in my throat

That I could hardly bear;

But, passing through the vestibule,

I saw him standing there.

I knew not where he came from,

But I felt no surprise

When he look’d down from his stately height

With his grave and quiet eyes,

And held his hand for a mute good-night

That said all words could say;-

Ah, love! he made me happy then

For ever and for aye.

Well, well,-but this is nonsense;

How I am running on!-

His golden hair grew thin and grey,

And now he’s dead and gone.

There, go and dress for dinner, child;

It’s getting late, you see;

And-perhaps I’ll ask young Cameron

If he’ll come in to tea.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Robert Burns: The Farewell: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Stanzas On Naething: Extempore Epistle to Gavin Hamilton, Esq. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Lines Written On A Banknote: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Lines To Mr. John Kennedy: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Motto Prefixed To The Author’s First Publication: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Lines To An Old Sweetheart: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Lass O’ Ballochmyle: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Epitaph On “Wee Johnie”: Hic Jacet wee Johnie. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Epitaph For Gavin Hamilton, Esq.: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Epitaph For Robert Aiken, Esq.: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: A Bard’s Epitaph: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Farewell To Eliza: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On A Scotch Bard, Gone To The West Indies: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Farewell To the Brethren of St. James’ Lodge, Tarbolton: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Versified Note To Dr. Mackenzie, Mauchline: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: A Dedication : To Gavin Hamilton, Esq. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: A Dream: Thoughts, words, and deeds, the Statute blames with reason; But surely Dreams were ne’er indicted Treason. On reading, in the public papers, the Laureate’s Ode, with the other parade of June 4th, 1786, the Author was no sooner dropt asleep, than he imagined himself transported to the Birth-day Levee: and, in his dreaming fancy, made the following Address: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Address Of Beelzebub: To the Right Honourable the Earl of Breadalbane, President of the Right Honourable and Honourable the Highland Society, which met on the 23rd of May last at the Shakespeare, Covent Garden, to concert ways and means to frustrate the designs of five hundred Highlanders, who, as the Society were informed by Mr. M’Kenzie of Applecross, were so audacious as to attempt an escape from their lawful lords and masters whose property they were, by emigrating from the lands of Mr. Macdonald of Glengary to the wilds of Canada, in search of that fantastic thing-Liberty. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Epistle To A Young Friend: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: My Highland Lassie, O: by Robert Burns

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

Parallel Translations of Poetry

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works