Poems and ballads by 'Q' Author:Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SHADOWS As I walked out on Hallows' E'en, I saw the moon swing thin and green ; f saw beside, in Fiddler's Wynd, Two hands that moved upon a blind. As I w... more »alked out on Martin's Feast, I heard a woman say to a priest— ' His grave is digged, his shroud is sewn ; And the child shall pass for his very own.' But whiles they stood beside his tomb, I heard the babe laugh out in her womb— ' My hair will be black as his was red, And I have a mole where his heart bled.' THE MASQUER IN THE STREET Masquer on the rainy stones, Jigging, twirling 'neath the rain, Wherefore shake thine aged bones To that antique strain ? Limp thy locks and lank and thinned, Thy grey beard it floats a yard ; And thy coat tails flap i' the wind Like a torn placard. ' Hush !' saith he ; ' there was a House— From its porch the cressets flared ; Lads in livery called " Carouse ! For thy lust's prepared ! " ' Like a snake the prelude wound— Crash ! the merry waltz began : One unto my mind I found, And our feet ran. ' Rubies ripped from altar-cloths Leered adown her silk attire ; Her mad shoes were scarlet moths In a rose of fire. ' Tropic scents her tresses weaved— Scents to lay the soul a-swoon; On her breast the draperies heaved Like clouds by the moon. ' Back she bent her throat, her wet Southern lips, and dared, and dared— Over them my kisses met, While the saxe-horn blared. ' Crash ! the brassy cymbal smote— When I would have stayed our feet, Laughter rippled all her throat Like a wind on wheat. ' Every laugh it left a crease, Every ripple wrote her old— Yet her arms would not release, Nor her feet with-hold. ' Ah ! to watch it suck and sag— Rosy flesh 'had breathed so warm— Till I twirled a loveless hag On a...« less