Violet monologue (Act 5) — The Merchant Prince of Cornville: A Comedy

I’ll have no merchandising. Thou a poet and a lover, and lookest at thy watch to tell the sun’s height! Alas! put up thy watch; lovers do not time themselves by watches. Thou wouldst not so at night register the moon’s height; but upon a pressing question, How high’s the moon? wouldst answer, A little higher than yonder rose-bush, if the moon rose late; or, perchance, A little higher than yonder tree-top, if the moon rose early. The sun’s as fine to me by day as the moon by night. Poetry doth not steal away at dawn of day. But thou must go; good-by for a moment. [_Looks up the orchard path._] Nay, good-by for all day, for I do spy my guardian uncle.