TO AN UNKNOWN DAMSEL

 On Fifth Street, in a small café,

Upstairs (our tables were adjacent),

I saw you lunching yesterday,

And felt a secret thrill complacent¹.

 

You sat, and, waiting for your meal,

You read a book. As I was eating,

Dear me, how keen you made me feel

To give you just a word of greeting!

 

And as your hand the pages turned,

I watched you, dumbly contemplating—

O how exceedingly I yearned²

To ask the girl to keep you waiting.

 

I wished that I could be the maid

To serve your meal or crumb³ your cloth, or

Beguile⁴ some hazard to my aid

To know your verdict on that author!

 

And still you read. You dropped your purse,

And yet, adorably unheeding,

You turned the pages, verse by verse,—

I watched, and worshiped you for reading!

 

You know not what restraint it took

To mind my etiquette⁵, nor flout⁶ it

By telling you I know that book,

And asking what you thought about it.

 

I cursed myself for being shy—

I longed to make polite advances;

Alas⁷! I let the time go by,

And Fortune gives no second chances.

 

You read, but still your face was calm—

(I scanned it closely, wretched sinner!)

You showed no sign—I felt a qualm—

And then the waitress brought your dinner.

 

Those modest rhymes, you thought them fair?

And will you sometimes praise or quote them?

And do you ask why I should care?

Oh, Lady, it was I who wrote them!

1 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

2 yearned   

渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The people yearned for peace. 人民渴望和平。
• She yearned to go back to the south. 她渴望回到南方去。

3 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。

4 beguile   

vt.欺骗，消遣

参考例句：

• They are playing cards to beguile the time.他们在打牌以消磨时间。
• He used his newspapers to beguile the readers into buying shares in his company.他利用他的报纸诱骗读者买他公司的股票。

5 etiquette   

n.礼仪，礼节；规矩

参考例句：

• The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
• According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。

6 flout   

v./n.嘲弄，愚弄，轻视

参考例句：

• Parents who flout Family Court orders may be named in the media in Australia.在澳洲父母亲若是藐视家庭法庭的裁定可能在媒体上被公布姓名。
• The foolish boy flouted his mother's advice.这个愚蠢的孩子轻视他母亲的劝告。

7 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。