A Military Appointment
By Thomas Hardy
SCHERZANDO
"So back you have come from the town, Nan, dear!
And have you seen him there, or near -
That soldier of mine -
Who long since promised to meet me here?"
" O yes, Nell: from the town I come,
And have seen your lover on sick-leave home -
That soldier of yours -
Who swore to meet you, or Strike-him-dumb;
"But has kept himself of late away;
Yet, in short, he's coming, I heard him say -
That lover of yours -
To this very spot on this very day."
" Then I'll wait, I'll wait, through wet or dry!
I'll give him a goblet brimming high -
This lover of mine -
And not of complaint one word or sigh!"
" Nell, him I have chanced so much to see,
That he has grown the lover of me! -
That lover of yours -
And it's here our meeting is planned to be."