FLORAL RECORDS. 17 



THE ALBANIAN LOVE-LETTER. 



[IN exquisite invention this, 



Worthy of Love's most honied kiss, 



This art of writing billet-dcux 



In buds, and odours, and bright hues.- 



In saying all one feels and thinks 



In clever daffodils and pinks, 



Uttering (as well as silence may) 



The sweetest words the sweetest way . 



How fit, too, for a lady's bosom, 



The place where billet-doux repose 'em ! 



How charming in some rural spot, 



Combining love with garden plot, 



At once to cultivate one's flowers, 



And one's epistolary powers, 



Growing one's own choice words and fancies 



In orange tubs and beds of pansies ; 



One's sighs and passionate declarations 



In odorous rhet'ric of carnations ; 



Seeing how far one's stocks will reach ; 



Taking due care one's flowers of speech 



To guard from blight as well as bathos, 



And watering, every day, one's pathos 1 

 O B 



