HENRY DUFF TRAILL 1842-1900

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A DRAWING-ROOM BALLAD

Can you recall an ode to June

Or lines to any river

In which you do not meet the "moon"

And see the moonbeams "quiver"?

I've heard such songs to many a tune

But never yet - no niver -

Have I escaped that rhyme to "June"

Or missed that rhyme to "river."

At times the bard from his refrain

A moment's respite snatches,

The while his over-cudgelled brain

At some new jingle catches;

Yet long from the unlucky moon

Himself he cannot sever;

But grasps once more that rhyme to "June"

And seeks a rhyme to "river."

Then let not indolence be blamed

On him whose verses show it

By shunning "burdens" (rightly named

For reader and for poet);

For rhymes must fail him late or soon,

Nor can he deal for ever

In words whose sound resembles "June"

And assonents of "river."

When "loon" 's been used, and "shoon" and "spoon"

And "stiver" sounded "stiver," *

Think of a bard reduced to "coon"

And left alone with "liver."

Ah, then, how blessed were the boon!

How doubly blest the giver

Who gave him one more rhyme for "June"

And one more rhyme for "river."!

* "stiver" is a word derived from the Dutch "stuiver." It was a currency denomination used in Ceylon in the early 19th century.

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Henry Duff Traill was a British journalist, editor and author. He was also a leader-writer for The Daily Telegraph, and he edited The Observer from 1889 till 1891.

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