MAD

“I’ ll take my yellow neckerchief,

My coral beads I’ ll wear;

Green ivy-chains shall loop my dress,

And ivy-chains shall loop my hair.

“What pretty gyves, such pretty gyves!

See how with tendril twists

They twine a halter round my throat

And make soft captives of my wrists.

“I’ ll leave my shoes beside the stream,

And creep on noiseless feet

Between the willows all among

The iris and the meadow-sweet.”

She slips from willow-tree to tree,

Holding one finger pressed

Against her lips; her other hand

Lies lightly moulded on her breast,

And peeping, laughing all the day,

She rambles up and down,

But I, unseen, have seen her go

With ivy slung about her gown.