Partant Pour La Scribie
[Scribie, on the north-east littoral of Bohemia, is the land of stage conventions. It is named after the discoverer, M. Scribe.]
A pleasant land is Scribie, where
The light comes mostly from below,
And seems a sort of symbol rare
Of things at large, and how they go,
In rooms where doors are everywhere
And cupboards shelter friend or foe.
This is a realm where people tell
Each other, when they chance to meet,
Of things that long ago befell -
And do most solemnly repeat
Secrets they both know very well,
Aloud, and in the public street!
A land where lovers go in fours,
Master and mistress, man and maid;
Where people listen at the doors
Or 'neath a table’s friendly shade,
And comic Irishmen in scores
Roam o’er the scenes all undismayed:
A land where Virtue in distress
Owes much to uncles in disguise;
Where British sailors frankly bless
Their limbs, their timbers, and their eyes;
And where the villain doth confess,
Conveniently, before he dies!
A land of lovers false and gay;
A land where people dread a ‘curse;’
A land of letters gone astray,
Or intercepted, which is worse;
Where weddings false fond maids betray,
And all the babes are changed at nurse.
Oh, happy land, where things come right!
We of the world where things go ill;
Where lovers love, but don’t unite;
Where no one finds the Missing Will -
Dominion of the heart’s delight,
Scribie, we’ve loved, and love thee still!
Other works by Andrew Lang...
