Lapsus Calami (Aug 1891)/To P. L., aged 4½

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To P. L., aged 4½

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First published in "From Three Fly Leaves" in the third edition of Lapsus Calami, "To P. L., Aged 4½" is dated May 1891.

1992578Lapsus Calami — To P. L., aged 4½James Kenneth Stephen

FROM THREE FLY LEAVES.

i. To P. L., aged 4⁠1/2⁠.

Ah Phyllis! did I only dare To hope that, as the years go by,And you, a maid divinely fair, The cynosure of every eye,Have fixed the wandering minds of men, And found a fare for scores of hearses,You still will open, now and then, My little book of verses;

Or did I, bolder yet, aspire To hope that any phrase of mine,Aglow with memory's cheering fire Will burn within that heart of thine;Although my brow be bare of bays, My coffers not replete with gain,I shall not—what's the foolish phrase?— Have written quite in vain.