Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE POET TO HIS GARRET, by PIERRE JEAN DE BERANGER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE POET TO HIS GARRET, by                    
First Line: Thrice welcome the place where at twenty I sought
Last Line: Ah! Life in a garret at twenty is gay!
Subject(s): Youth


THRICE welcome the place where at twenty I sought
A nest for myself and my darling grisette;
Where I learned the queer lessons that poverty taught,
And with friendship and love banished care and regret.
'T was here that we managed our social affairs,
Unheeding what dunces or sages might say;
How lightly I bounded up six pair o' stairs!
Ah! life in a garret at twenty is gay!

'T was only a garret! the table stood here;
And there a flock-bed, -- 't was the best we could get;
And here on the plaster in charcoal appear
Three lines of a poem, unfinished as yet.
"Come back to me, Pleasures!" I eagerly shout;
"To keep you alive in my juvenile day
How oft my repeater was 'put up the
spout!'"
Ah! life in a garret at twenty is gay!

My laughing Lisette! would she only come back.
In her jaunty straw bonnet how charming was she!
Full well I remember her dexterous knack
Of hanging her shawl where the curtain should be;
Love! kiss her silk gown with your fondest caress;
You know where she got it, I venture to say.
I never was certain who paid for the dress;
Ah! life in a garret at twenty is gay!

Dne notable day in those glorious years,
As we sat in the midst of our feasting and fun,
A shout from the people saluted out ears,
"Napoleon is victor! Marengo is won!"
A new song of triumph at once we essayed,
While cannon were blazing and booming away,
"The free soil of France kings shall never invade!"
Ah! life in a garret at twenty is gay!

Away! I must go lest my reason should reel;
For one of those days I would cheerfully give,
With the pulses of youth that no longer I feel,
All the lingering years I am destined to live;
The love, hope, and joy that at twenty I had,
To have them condensed in one glorious day,
Like those that I spent when a lighthearted lad!
Ah! life in a garret at twenty is gay!





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