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Proem to ‘The Wonderful Mission of Earl Lavender’

THOUGH our eyes turn ever waveward
    Where our sun is well-nigh set ;
Though our Century totters graveward
    We may laugh a little yet.

Oh ! our age-end style perplexes
    All our elders time has tamed ;
On our sleeves we wear our sexes,
    Our diseases, unashamed.

Have we lost the mood romantic
    That was once our right by birth ?
Lo ! the greenest girl is frantic
    With the woe of all the earth.

But we know a British rumour,
    And we think it whispers well :
” We would ventilate our humour
    In the very jaws of Hell.”

                                                Though

                        By John Davidson 285

Though our thoughts turn ever Doomwards,
Though our sun is well-nigh set,
Though our Century totters tombwards,
We may laugh a little yet.

MLA citation:

Davidson, John. “Proem to ‘The Wonderful Mission of Earl Lavender.’” The Yellow Book, vol. 4, January 1895, pp. 284-285. Yellow Book Digital Edition, edited by Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, 2010-2014. Yellow Nineties 2.0, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019. https://1890s.ca/YBV4_davidson_proem/