| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | IV. Picking and Stealing | | By Thomas James Judkin |
| | | NOW Jane was under that old mulberry-tree, | |
| So watched and guarded near the summer-house; | |
| I caught her pilfering from the lower boughs,— | |
| “Dear Heaven! what purple lips! they ’ll surely be | |
| To in-door folk no doubtful history.” | 5 |
| Now this to ’scape she stood with knitted brows | |
| In pretty strife betwixt the ifs and hows,— | |
| No spring was near,—and turning full on me, | |
| She said, “Sweet cousin, thy advice I pray.” | |
| “It is,” quoth I (one arm her waist enfolding, | 10 |
| And with the other hand her small wrists holding), | |
| “It is, to kiss those tell-tale stains away.” | |
| But ah! as kisses oft will do, this made | |
| The matter worse, and both of us betrayed. | | | | |
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