More poetry

[triskellian]

Posting poetry seems to be fashionable this week. This is an excerpt from "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by Robert Browning.

Once more he stept into the street,
And to his lips again
Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane;
And ere he blew three notes (such sweet
Soft notes as yet musician's cunning
Never gave the enraptured air)
There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling
Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,
Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
Little hands clapping and little tongues chattering,
And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering,
Out came the children running.
All the little boys and girls,
With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.

(Full text available here: http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/piper/text.html)

Incidentally, whilst in Venice, smiorgan and I visited Ca'Rezzonico, where Browning died.