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.