Page:Aurora Leigh a Poem.djvu/114

In loving Romney Leigh. The name is good,
The means are excellent; but the man, the man—
Heaven help us both,—I am near as mad as he,
In loving such an one.’
She slowly wrung
Her heavy ringlets till they touched her smile,
As reasonably sorry for herself;
And thus continued,—
‘Of a truth, Miss Leigh,
I have not, without a struggle, come to this.
I took a master in the German tongue,
I gamed a little, went to Paris twice;
But, after all, this love! . . . you eat of love,
And do as vile a thing as if you ate
Of garlic—which, whatever else you eat,
Tastes uniformly acrid, till your peach
Reminds you of your onion! Am I coarse?
Well, love’s coarse, nature’s coarse—ah there’s the rub!
We fair fine ladies, who park out our lives
From common sheep-paths, cannot help the crows
From flying over,—we’re as natural still
As Blowsalinda. Drape us perfectly
In Lyons’ velvet,—we are not, for that,
Lay-figures, like you! we have hearts within,
Warm, live, improvident, indecent hearts,
As ready for distracted ends and acts
As any distressed sempstress of them all
That Romney groans and toils for. We catch love
And other fevers, in the vulgar way.

Love will not be outwitted by our wit,