GO, little book - the ancient phrase <br />And still the daintiest - go your ways, <br />My Otto, over sea and land, <br />Till you shall come to Nelly's hand. <br /> <br />How shall I your Nelly know? <br />By her blue eyes and her black brow, <br />By her fierce and slender look, <br />And by her goodness, little book! <br /> <br />What shall I say when I come there? <br />You shall speak her soft and fair: <br />See - you shall say - the love they send <br />To greet their unforgotten friend! <br /> <br />Giant Adulpho you shall sing <br />The next, and then the cradled king: <br />And the four corners of the roof <br />Then kindly bless; and to your perch aloof, <br />Where Balzac all in yellow dressed <br />And the dear Webster of the west <br />Encircle the prepotent throne <br />Of Shakespeare and of Calderon, <br />Shall climb an upstart. <br /> <br />There with these <br />You shall give ear to breaking seas <br />And windmills turning in the breeze, <br />A distant undetermined din <br />Without; and you shall hear within <br />The blazing and the bickering logs, <br />The crowing child, the yawning dogs, <br />And ever agile, high and low, <br />Our Nelly going to and fro. <br /> <br />There shall you all silent sit, <br />Till, when perchance the lamp is lit <br />And the day's labour done, she takes <br />Poor Otto down, and, warming for our sakes, <br />Perchance beholds, alive and near, <br />Our distant faces reappear.<br /><br />Robert Louis Stevenson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/go-little-book-the-ancient-phrase/
