C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Bubble

From ‘Ballads and Songs’

SEE the pretty planet!

Floating sphere!

Faintest breeze will fan it

Far or near;

World as light as feather;

Moonshine rays,

Rainbow tints together,

As it plays.

Drooping, sinking, failing,

Nigh to earth,

Mounting, whirling, sailing,

Full of mirth;

Life there, welling, flowing,

Waving round;

Pictures coming, going,

Without sound.

Quick now, be this airy

Globe repelled!

Never can the fairy

Star be held.

Touched—it in a twinkle

Disappears!

Leaving but a sprinkle,

As of tears.