A Legend Of St. Valentine.

George Augustus Baker Jr 1849 ( New York City, New York) – 1906 ( New York City, New York)



Come! Why, halloa, that you, Jack?
How's the world been using you?
Want your pipe? it's in the jar
Think I might be looking blue.
Maud's been breaking off with me,
Fact see here I've got the ring.
That's the note she sent it in;
Read it soothing sort of thing.
Jack, you know I write sometimes
Must have read some things of mine.
Well, I thought I'd just send Maud
Something for a valentine.
So I ground some verses out
In the softest kind of style,
Full of love, and that, you know
Bothered me an awful while;
Quite a heavy piece of work.
So when I had got them done
Why, I thought them much too good
Just to waste that way on one.
Jack, I told you, didn't I,
All about that black-eyed girl
Up in Stratford last July
Oh! you know; you saw her curl?
Well, old fellow, she's the one
That this row is all about,
For I sent her who'd have thought
Maud would ever find it out
Those same verses, word for word
Hang it, man! you needn't roar
"Splendid joke!" well, so I thought
No, don't think so any more.
Yesterday, you know it rained,
I'd been up late at a ball
Didn't know what else to do
Went up and made Maud a call,
Found some other girl there, too,
They were playing a duet.
"Fred, my cousin, Nelly Deane,"
Yes, Jack, there was my brunette;
You should just have seen me, Jack
Now, old fellow, please don't laugh,
I feel bad about it fact
And I really can't stand chaff.
Well, I tried to talk to Maud,
There was Nell, though, sitting by;
Every now and then she'd laugh,
Sure I can't imagine why.
Maud would read that beastly poem,
Nell's eyes said in just one glance,
"Wont I make you pay for this,
If I ever get the chance!"
Some one came and rang the bell,
Just a note for Nell, by post.
Jack, I saw my monogram
I'd have rather seen a ghost.
Yes her verses I suppose
That her folks had sent them down
Couldn't get up there, you know
Till she'd left and come to town.
Nelly looked them quickly through
Laughed by Jove, I thought she'd choke.
"Maud he'll kill me dear! oh, dear!
Read that; isn't it a joke?"
Maud glanced through them sank right down
On the sofa hid her face
"Crying!" not much laughing, Jack
Don't think she's a hopeless case.
I just grabbed my hat and left
Only wish I'd gone before.
How they laughed! I heard them, Jack
Till I got outside the door.
There, confession's done me good,
I can never win her back,
So I'll calmly let her slide
Pass the ash-cup, will you, Jack.
  
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:28 min read
3

Quick analysis:

Scheme Text too long
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 2,318
Words 472
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 76

George Augustus Baker Jr

John F. Kensett, 1875 John F. Kensett, 1875 George Augustus Baker Jr (1821 – 1880) The son of a miniaturist, George Baker, Jr. grew up in New York City. Following his father’s example, he became a painter of miniatures on ivory, and becoming almost instantly successful, by the time he was sixteen, he had completed 150 miniatures and sold them for $5.00 a piece. For seven years, he supported himself this way while attending the National Academy of Design. From 1844-46, he studied in Europe and then established a portrait studio in New York. Women and children were his primary subjects. He also did portraits of painters John Frederick Kensett, a close friend, and Charles Loring Elliot, whom he greatly admired. He lived the last fourteen years of his life in Darien, Connecticut where he actively pursued his painting career but kept a studio in New York City. more…

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