485 and 486

To Elegy 16: On His Mistress, by John Donne:

Be page, if page you’ll be to me today,

and o’er this journey whither each which way.

I’ll tell thee not, stay home, and lonely, stay,

for if I say so, Folly I obey.

For better friends, this page and knight would be,

than any that I have had before thee.

Far more than vassal vows have you from me,

and more talk than most pages ever see.

That one who wishes not his love to tread

where he goes, and tells her to stay, instead,

trusts not that God looks kindly on his head,

but boasts more in the safety of his bed.

A fear most understood—no shame is there.

But we are not encumbered by such care.

~~~

Apple Cottage (the pet store) vii:

José Alfonso Gómez de Gómez,

a gecko from the Iguazú Falls

(which he has lived from falling from, he says),

attends wherever an adventure calls.

In Argentina did his journey start,

inspired by José de San Martín,

and with two pistols and a fearless heart,

crossed Pampas, Canada, and all between.

He steps inside a saloon he prefers,

where they have often given him a bed;

but as he doffs his hat and both his spurs,

he spots the wary eyes of Winnifred.

One more adventure of both fame and woe

for he, the gaucho José Alfonso.