A Dresden shepherdess was one day
Milking a small Delft cow,
When a Sevres Marquis came along—
I saw him smile and bow:
“O lovely shepherdess, hear my song,”
I think I heard him say,
“For thou hast captured my porcelain heart,
And by my sword I swear thou art
A star in the Milky Way.”
-
-
There ’s a joy without canker or cark,
There ’s a pleasure eternally new,
’T is to gloat on the glaze and the mark
Of china that ’s ancient and blue;
Unchipped, all the centuries through
It has passed, since the chime of it rang,
And they fashioned it, figure and hue,
In the reign of the Emperor Hwang.These dragons (their tails...