| Fuess and Stearns, comps. The Little Book of Society Verse. 1922. | | | | Soli Cantare Periti Arcades | | By Ernest Dowson |
| | | OH, I would live in a dairy, | |
| And it’s Colin I would be, | |
| And many a rustic fairy | |
| Should churn the milk with me. | |
| |
| Or the fields should be my pleasure, | 5 |
| And my flocks should follow me, | |
| Piping a frolic measure | |
| For Joan or Marjorie. | |
| |
| For the town is black and weary, | |
| And I hate the London street; | 10 |
| But the country ways are cheery, | |
| And country lanes are sweet. | |
| |
| Good luck to you, Paris ladies! | |
| Ye are over fine and nice, | |
| I know where the country maid is, | 15 |
| Who needs not asking twice. | |
| |
| Ye are brave in your silks and satins, | |
| As ye mince about the Town; | |
| But her feet go free in pattens, | |
| If she wear a russet gown. | 20 |
| |
| If she be not queen or goddess | |
| She shall milk my brown-eyed herds, | |
| And the breasts beneath her bodice | |
| Are whiter than her curds. | |
| |
| So I will live in a dairy, | 25 |
| And it’s Colin I will be, | |
| And it’s Joan that I will marry, | |
| Or, haply, Marjorie. | | | | |
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