16. Circa 1820

So Denise, your husband—our old pedagogue—
Is out for a stroll; grubbing a new eclogue
With “fairest young April upon forest clearing.”
All tremble, pedanticize, at his appearing:
The ass grunts some Latin to ox, his mate;
The wind drones some dull prose, the tree a tirade;
The greening briar-rose—soft, growing young-man—
Cites Theramenes’ tale, and struggles to scan:
“His broad brow is arméd with menacing horns.”

Denise, in the meantime: you dream, you sing songs,
Your age is when innocence shows its dark bloom;
With your unknowing eye—neither joy nor gloom,
Nor fear nor desire—you’re watching, as hubby
Returns to his room and the scholar to study,
The pair approach you, and they climb stairs together:
The schoolmaster Boredom, the schoolboy Lover.