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07-21-03, 07:21 PM
Found part of this book at a flea market, in really bad shape. but this poem alone is worth the .25$ I paid for it.
The Romance of Cecilia
Their wedding day they whispered should be soon
They'd bicycle one life-long honeymoon
She praised his prowess, ah that praise was sweet!
She thought his whole equipment very neat
Then whispered, Darling nay,it must must be
We'll cycle into Andover to tea
They started but Cecilia never knew
While Robert learned she'd been progressing too.
Down the first hill she led by twenty yards
Speed, Robert, Speed! What Fate thy wheel *******?
Along the level flashed her silver bright
Another moment she was out of sight
A hill before her! Warming to the fray
She pedalled double action all the way
O ecstasy! O grand exhilaration!
She dreamt of nothing but the wheeels rotation
The sun was bright the open sky was blue
Whirr went the wheel it hummed it sang it flew.
Swift as a bird toward Andover she fled
And for a moment Robert left her head
Then memory contrition and a stop
She paused upon a difficult hill top
Down the valley white the roadway wound
Two miles but not a sight, but not a sound
She paused she fidgeted she stamped her heel
She choked the rage she could not all conceal
Then swung her wheel round with an evil grace
And took that hill at a terrific pace
Ah God of Love what pains thy victims cull
"As thou art strong, though shouldst be pitiful,"
Four miles away back in the paling West
She found her Robert pedalling his best.
His face was set dead weary past denying
She thought he looked as tho he had been crying
Yet with determination brave ti see
He panted, Dear, we'll still be there to tea
She bade him turn she lead him up the lane
slowly she rode till they were home again
She passed the trysting tree nor stayed to tell
The parting secrets that they loved so well
Into the market square without one kiss
She rode and there took leave of Robert Bliss
I think he knew his fate. I think that when
a note was brought to him next day at ten
With no surprise the words assailed his sight
I fear I cannot ride with you tonight
I only know that from that fateful day
He locked his hard-bought bicycle away
I also know that Miss Cecilia Brown
Was seen last week careering up and down
With Mr. Watkins, muscular and lank
Who's bought a Swift and manages the bank
Legends of the Wheel by Arthur Waugh
published 1897
The Romance of Cecilia
Their wedding day they whispered should be soon
They'd bicycle one life-long honeymoon
She praised his prowess, ah that praise was sweet!
She thought his whole equipment very neat
Then whispered, Darling nay,it must must be
We'll cycle into Andover to tea
They started but Cecilia never knew
While Robert learned she'd been progressing too.
Down the first hill she led by twenty yards
Speed, Robert, Speed! What Fate thy wheel *******?
Along the level flashed her silver bright
Another moment she was out of sight
A hill before her! Warming to the fray
She pedalled double action all the way
O ecstasy! O grand exhilaration!
She dreamt of nothing but the wheeels rotation
The sun was bright the open sky was blue
Whirr went the wheel it hummed it sang it flew.
Swift as a bird toward Andover she fled
And for a moment Robert left her head
Then memory contrition and a stop
She paused upon a difficult hill top
Down the valley white the roadway wound
Two miles but not a sight, but not a sound
She paused she fidgeted she stamped her heel
She choked the rage she could not all conceal
Then swung her wheel round with an evil grace
And took that hill at a terrific pace
Ah God of Love what pains thy victims cull
"As thou art strong, though shouldst be pitiful,"
Four miles away back in the paling West
She found her Robert pedalling his best.
His face was set dead weary past denying
She thought he looked as tho he had been crying
Yet with determination brave ti see
He panted, Dear, we'll still be there to tea
She bade him turn she lead him up the lane
slowly she rode till they were home again
She passed the trysting tree nor stayed to tell
The parting secrets that they loved so well
Into the market square without one kiss
She rode and there took leave of Robert Bliss
I think he knew his fate. I think that when
a note was brought to him next day at ten
With no surprise the words assailed his sight
I fear I cannot ride with you tonight
I only know that from that fateful day
He locked his hard-bought bicycle away
I also know that Miss Cecilia Brown
Was seen last week careering up and down
With Mr. Watkins, muscular and lank
Who's bought a Swift and manages the bank
Legends of the Wheel by Arthur Waugh
published 1897