On A Nankin Plate

"Ah, me, but it might have been!
Was there ever so dismal a fate?" --
Quoth the little blue mandarin.

"Such a maid as was never seen!
She passed, though I cried to her 'Wait' --
Ah me, but it might have been!

"I cried, 'O my Flower, my Queen,
Be mine!' 'Twas precipitate" --
Quoth the little blue mandarin --

"But then . . . she was just sixteen,
Long-eyed -- as a lily straight --
Ah me, but it might have been!

"As it was,from her palankeen,
She laughed -- 'You're a week too late!' "
(Quoth the little blue mandarin.)

"That is why, in a mist of spleen,
I mourn on this Nankin Plate.
Ah me, but it might of been!" --
Quoth the little blue mandarin.