Maybasket Night

     Maybasket night!

Those happy times when thro’ the night

     I stole up to her door;

And slipped the dainties o’er the knob,

     And gave the knocker “four”.

And then to stumble, purposely,

     And let her catch me there;

Protesting in my helplessness,

     She didn’t catch me fair!

     Maybasket night!

‘Tis here again; a dozen years

     Have fled, but people say –

She is the same sweet, trusting maid,

     As when I went away

In anger, O, so long ago;

     And how my heart doth throb,

As once again I slip the cord

     Upon the old doorknob!

April 27, 1896

Little Joker

for May, ‘98