THE JOYOUS COMRADE To J. K. P.

THE Joyous Comrade comes, and lo, The silence thrills to a hidden song. How changed the world from an hour ago! In spite of man’s hate and the high gods’ wrong, There has come a beautiful hour to me With my belle dame avec merci. Ah, she is gallant, debonnaire! Some bold man spirit of her line Charged at Edgehill, one may aver, With dashing Rupert of the Rhine— And the King still has his own, sans fear, When smiles my Joyous Cavalier. In hose of green and doublet brown Through Arden’s forest she has strayed (Arden that’s nigh to Stratford town) In dainty, straight-limbed masquerade. And still her fearless walk betrays A Rosalind in city ways. To-night we shall essay the Town Whence Strand leads out from narrow Fleet. Thence Westward, while dim stars look down, We’ll quest Romance by square and street. For, oh, Romance is never dead By paths which joyous comrades tread.