GAGES D'AMOUR.

Southland Times, Issue 1011, 28 August 1868, Page 3

GAGES D'AMOUR.

AN OLD BTOBT. 'Tis over! Your portrait I wrench from my chain, Tears unbidden are blinding my eyes } 'Tis over, and sadly I'm gazing in vain On a blank that I once thought a prize ! They warned me that you were a terrible flirt, And bade me beware of your wiles, JBut rashly I thought to escape any hurt 'Neath the charm of your treacherous smiles. Take back these sweet violets, sent me in May, For a faint perfume hangs to them still, Like the thought of past love is c'en dear on a day When one's heart has been broken at will : The Tennyson, also, you gave me last year — See the page we so often have read — Read again, if you can, with trembling and fear, O, false girl, of « a day that is dead !' And here's the bright ribbon you twined in your hair, . With a rosebud you wore in your breast ; The ballad you sent me, I've kept it with care, And the ring you had marked with my crest ; A lace-broidered handkerchief, broideredwith'L,' With a well-worn, small Houbigant glove, A bundle of letters — what tales they could tell ! And a packet that's marked, ' For My Love.' For your love indeed ! 'Tis more shattered and dead Than the poor faded flowers now returned ; Another true heart on your altar has bled, Just one more silly moth has been burned : No doubt it is sport honest love to betray — And T daresay it adds to your fame — Some day you'll repent and find out that to play With men'B hearts is a dangerous game ! J. AshbyStbbby.