Ballade of an Omnibus
"To see my love suffices me."
—Ballades in Blue China.
SOME men to carriages aspire ;
On some the costly hansoms wait;
Some seek a fly, on job or hire;
Some mount the trotting steed, elate.
I envy not the rich and great,
A wandering minstrel, poor and free,
I am contented with my fate —
An omnibus suffices me.
In winter days of rain and mire
I find within a corner strait;
The 'busmen know me and my lyre
From Brompton to the Bull-and-Gate.
When summer comes, I mount in state
The topmost summit, whence I see
Crsus look up, compassionate —
An omnibus suffices me.
I mark, untroubled by desire,
Lucullus' phaeton and its freight.
The scene whereof I cannot tire,
The human tale of love and hate,
The city pageant, early and late
Unfolds itself, rolls by, to be
A pleasure deep and delicate.
An omnibus suffices me.
Princess, your splendour you require,
I, my simplicity; agree
Neither to rate lower nor higher.
An omnibus suffices me.
Composition date is unknown - the above date represents the first publication date.Form: ababbcbc, last stanza abab.2.hansoms: small two-wheeled covered carriage.12.Brompton: street running from South Kensington stationto Hyde Park and Knightsbridge station today. The locationof the Bull-and-Gate, likely a pub, is not known.15.Cr\;sus: wealthy king of Lydia (560-546 BC).18.Lucullus' phaeton: Lucius Licinius Lucullus (born ca. 110 BC),consul of Rome, leader of war against Mithridates, and very wealthy,could have afforded a phaeton, a light four-wheeled horse-drawncarriage.