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LADY CLARA VERE DE VERE'S REPLY
Thomas Nehemiah Briggs,
You write as though most strangely vexed,
But I am at a loss to know
With what offences I am taxed:
"I smiled, but you were unbeguiled"—
But where's the snare a smile discovers?
Upon a man a maid may smile
Surely, although they are not lovers?
Thomas Nehemiah Briggs,
Your own conceit led you astray,
You twisted civil words I said
To sweet ones such as lovers say:
What you would hide I soon espied,
Your snobbishness and self-conceit,
Your foolish vanity and pride—
And treated you as it was meet.
Thomas Nehemiah Briggs,
A woman loves a man although
He may be but of humble birth,
But you—tut, tut, too well I know
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