free-verse25 lines
What Can It Mean?
by George Pope Morris(Written for Miss Poole, and sung by her in the character of cowslip.)
I'm much too young to marry,
For I am only seventeen;
Why think I, then, of Harry?
What can it mean--what can it mean?
Wherever Harry meets me,
Beside the brook or on the green,
How tenderly he greets me!
What can it mean--what can it mean?
Whene'er my name he utters,
A blush upon my cheek is seen!--
His voice my bosom flutters!--
What can it mean--what can it mean?
If he but mentions Cupid,
Or, smiling, calls me "fairy queen,"
I sigh, and looks so stupid!--
What can it mean--what can it mean?
Oh, mercy! what can ail me?
I'm growing wan and very lean;
My spirits often fail me!
What can it mean--what can it mean?
I'm not in love!--No!--Smother
Such a thought at seventeen!
I'll go and ask my mother--
"What can it mean--what can it mean?"