"THE SERIOUS, TOO, HAVE THEIR 'VIVE LA BAGATELLE.'"
Reading edition
Gay world! You may write on my heart what you will If your laugh-shaken fingers but trace The dream, or the jest, with that fairylike quill That ciphers the wood-sorrel's vase! Fair world! You may write on my heart what you will; But write it with pencil, not pen: You are fair, and have skill; but a hand fairer still Soon whitens the tablet again! Aubrey de Vere.