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THE.RUBAIYAT OF.A.BACHELOR

[Illustration]

[Illustration: PROMISED TO PAY A WOMAN'S BILLS FOR LIFE.]





THE.RUBAIYAT OF.A.BACHELOR

[Illustration]

BY HELEN ROWLAND

DECORATIONS.... BY.... HAROLD.... SPEAKMAN

          DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY
          NEW YORK

          COPYRIGHT 1915 BY
          DODGE PUBLISHING COMPANY

          TO
          MY HUSBAND
          WILLIAM HILL-BRERETON
          THIS LITTLE BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY
          DEDICATED

          WAKE! For the Spring has scattered into flight
          The Vows of Lent, and bids the heart be light.
            Bring on the Roast, and take the Fish away!
          The Season calls--and Woman's eyes are bright!

          BEFORE the phantom of Pale Winter died,
          Methought the Voice of Spring within me cried,
            "When Hymen's rose-decked altars glow within,
          Why nods the laggard _Bachelor_ outside?"

          AND, at the Signal, I who stood before
          In idle musing, shouted, "Say no more!
            You know how little while we have to Love--
          And Love's light Hand is knocking at the door!"

          NOW, the New Moon reviving old desires,
          The gallant Youth to Sentiment aspires;
             And ere he saunters forth on conquest bent,
          Himself, like unto Solomon, attires.

[Illustration: HIS WINTER GARMENTS HUNG--WHERE, NO ONE KNOWS!]

          HOW blithely through the smiling throng he goes,
          His Winter garments hung--where, no one knows!
            A Symphony in radiant scarfs and hose,
          Wrought t'inspire a maiden's "Ah's!" and "Oh's!"

          INTO a new Flirtation, why not knowing,
          Nor whence, his heart with madness overflowing;
            Then out of it--and thence, without a pause,
          Into _another_, willy-nilly blowing.

          WHAT if the conscience feel, perchance, a sting?
          No danger waits him--save the _Wedding Ring_.
            A Kiss is not the sin that yesterday
          It was--for that was _Lent_, and this is _Spring_!

          SOME simple ones may sigh for wealth or fame,
          And some, for the sweet Domestic Life, and tame;
            But ah! give me a supper, a cigar,
          A charming Woman--and the old Love-Game!

          SOME blue points on the half-shell, in a row,
          Some iced champagne, a melting bird--and Thou
            Beside me flirting, 'neath a picture hat--
          Oh, single life were Paradise enow!

          A COZY-CORNER tete-a-tete--what bliss!
          A murmured word, a sigh, a stolen kiss--
            Ah, tell me, does the Promised Paradise
          Hold anything one-half so sweet as this?

          AND yet, since I am made of common clay,
          One charm I'd add to this divine array;
            Lord make me _careful_, and whate'er betide,
          Without proposing, let me slip away!

          FOR, some I've known, the bravest and the best,
          Who laughed at Love, as but an idle jest,
            Have, one by one, walked straight into the Net,
          Helpless, before the _Cozy Corner_ test!

          THUS, oft, beside some damsel fond and fair,
          I've sat, thrilled by the perfume of her hair,
            And madly longed to murmur, lip-to-lip,
          "Beloved, marry me!"--but did not dare!

          FOR some I've wooed, when I felt blithe and gay,
          Have looked _so different_, when we met next day,
            That I have simply stopped to say, "So charmed!"
          And shuddering, sped hurriedly away!

          LOOK to the Married Men! Alas, their gains
          Are neither here nor there, for all their pains.
            For wedding bells are rung--and loudly rung
          To drown the clanking of the _Marriage Chains_!

          A MOMENT'S halt--a little word or two--
          And you have done what you can ne'er undo;
            Promised to pay a Woman's bills for life--
          _Anchored_ yourself--and there's an end of you!

          AND we, who now make merry at the gloom
          Of those who thus have gone to meet their doom--
            May we, ourselves, not some day follow suit,
          Ourselves to be the Butt of jests--for whom?

          INDEED, 'tis better to have loved and lost--
          Taken the Kiss and fled, at any cost,
            Than to have loved and married, and for aye,
          Thereafter, by a _Woman_, to be bossed.

          WITH me, along that strip of Broadway strewn
          With lovely maids, each radiant afternoon,
            And think, of all the thousands you behold,
          That you can marry one--and _only one_!

          BUT, if the lip I kiss, the hand I press,
          Upon the morrow seem to charm me less,
            Ah well, am I not still a _Bachelor_,
          And thus, entitled to--another Guess?

[Illustration: SOME FOR THE COMFORTS OF A CLUB MAY SIGH.]

          SOME for the comforts of a club may sigh,
          And some for a hermit's lonely life. Not I!
            Give me a cozy hearthside, and a Girl
          Always "at home" when _I_ chance by!

          HER cushioned chair a spot where I may curl
          My weary form, and rest, beyond the whirl
            Of madd'ning