I haven't told my garden yet－1
Lest that should conquer me.
I haven't quite the strength now
To break it to the Bee－
I will not name it in the street 5
For shops would stare at me－
That one so shy－so ignorant
Should have the face to die.
The hillsides must not know it－9
Where I have rambled so－
Nor tell the loving forests
The day that I shall go－
Nor lisp it at the table－13
Nor heedless by the way
Hint that within the Riddle
One will walk today－
Lest that should conquer me.
I haven't quite the strength now
To break it to the Bee－
I will not name it in the street 5
For shops would stare at me－
That one so shy－so ignorant
Should have the face to die.
The hillsides must not know it－9
Where I have rambled so－
Nor tell the loving forests
The day that I shall go－
Nor lisp it at the table－13
Nor heedless by the way
Hint that within the Riddle
One will walk today－
(F.40/J.50)
[1] I haven't told:: this riddle is about what she didn't tell.
[5–8] name, stare, shy, face to die:: something embarassing.
[7] ignorant:: a hint on the Ignorantines who devote themselves in Christian schools for the poor and ignorant.
[12] I shall go:: to an Ignorantine school.
In the three parochial schools, conducted by the Ignorantine brotherhood, lessons in drawing are added. The regulations which they have laid down are excellent, and one of them is probably without a counterpart in any other quarter of the globe: it is, that 'no individual who has any bodily defect or infirmity shall be allowed to act as teacher in the school, lest he should become an object of ridicule to his pupils.' ─ The Quarterly Journal of Education (1833)