And if you bade me cease my idle playing
On the tired chords my hands have swept for years,
I think the moonlight o'er my pillow straying
Would find it slightly wet with “idle tears.
On the tired chords my hands have swept for years,
I think the moonlight o'er my pillow straying
Would find it slightly wet with “idle tears.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v28 - Songs, Hymns, Lyrics
that she were jealous as the dove!
Full of all the wildness of the woodland creatures,
Happy in herself is the maiden that I love!
What can have taught her distrust of all I tell her ?
Can she truly doubt me when looking on my brows?
Nature never teaches distrust of tender love-tales,
What can have taught her distrust of all my vows ?
No, she does not doubt me! on a dewy eve-tide,
Whispering together beneath the listening moon,
I prayed till her cheek flushed, implored till she faltered
Fluttered to my bosom - ah! to fly away so soon!
When her mother tends her before the laughing mirror,
Tying up her laces, looping up her hair,
Often she thinks, «Were this wild thing wedded,
I should have more love, and much less care. ”
When her mother tends her before the bashful mirror,
Loosening her laces, combing down her curls,
Often she thinks, “Were this wild thing wedded,
I should lose but one for so many boys and girls. ”
Clambering roses peep into her chamber,
Jasmine and woodbine breathe sweet, sweet;
White-necked swallows twittering of summer,
Fill her with balm and nested peace from head to feet.
Ah! will the rose-bough see her lying lonely,
When the petals fall and fierce bloom is on the leaves ?
Will the autumn garners see her still ungathered,
When the fickle swallows forsake the weeping eaves ?
XXVIII-1039
## p. 16610 (#310) ##########################################
16610
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Comes a sudden question - should a strange hand pluck her!
Oh what an anguish smites me at the thought,
Should some idle lordling bribe her mind with jewels! -
Can such beauty ever thus be bought ?
Sometimes the huntsmen prancing down the valley
Eye the village lasses, full of sprightly mirth;
They see as I see, mine is the fairest!
Would she were older, and could read my worth!
Are there not sweet maidens if she will deny me?
Show the bridal heavens but one bright star ?
Wherefore thus then do I chase a shadow,
Chattering one note like a brown eve-jar?
So I rhyme and reason till she darts before me -
Through the milky meadows from flower to flower she flies,
Sunning her sweet palms to shade her dazzled eyelids
From the golden love that looks too eager in her eyes.
When at dawn she wakens, and her fair face gazes
Out on the weather through the window-panes,
Beauteous she looks! like a white water-lily
Bursting out of bud on the rippled river-plains.
When from bed she rises, clothed from neck to ankle
In her long nightgown, sweet as boughs of May,
Beauteous she looks! like a tall garden lily
Pure from the night and perfect for the day!
Happy, happy time, when the gray star twinkles
Over the fields all fresh with bloomy dew;
When the cold-cheeked dawn grows ruddy up the twilight,
And the gold sun wakes, and weds her in the blue.
Then when my darling tempts the early breezes,
She the only star that dies not with the dark !
Powerless to speak all the ardor of my passion,
I catch her little hand as we listen to the lark.
Shall the birds in vain then valentine their sweethearts,
Season after season tell a fruitless tale ?
Will not the virgin listen to their voices ?
Take the honeyed meaning — wear the bridal veil?
Fears she frosts of winter, fears she the bare branches ?
Waits she the garlands of spring for her dower ?
Is she a nightingale that will not be nested
Till the April woodland has built her bridal bower ?
## p. 16611 (#311) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16611
Then come, merry April, with all thy birds and beauties!
With thy crescent brows and thy flowery, showery glee;
With thy budding leafage and fresh green pastures:
And may thy lustrous crescent grow a honeymoon for me!
Come, merry month of the cuckoo and the violet!
Come, weeping Loveliness, in all thy blue delight!
Lo! the nest is ready, let me not languish longer!
Bring her to my arms on the first May night.
GEORGE MEREDITH.
SING AGAIN
Yºu
1
0
1
4
OU sang me a song:
'Twas the close of the year —
Sing again!
I cannot remember the name
Or the words:
'Tis the same
We listen to hear
When the windows are open in spring,
And the air's full of birds;
One calls from the branch some sweet thing,
And one sings on the wing
The refrain.
You sang me a song
My heart thrilled to hear.
The refrain
Has run like a filet of gold
Through the woof
Of the cold
Dark days of a year.
To-night there's a year at its start,
All the birds are aloof,
Your eyes hold the sun for my part,
And the Spring's in your heart-
Sing again!
MARIE LOUISE VAN VORST.
## p. 16612 (#312) ##########################################
16612
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
WHAT MY LOVER SAID
B'
Y THE merest chance, in the twilight gloom,
In the orchard path he met me —
In the tall, wet grass, with its faint perfume;
And I tried to pass, but he made no room
Oh I tried, but he would not let me.
So I stood and blushed till the grass grew red,
With my face bent down above it,
While he took my hand as he whispering said —
(How the clover lifted each pink, sweet head,
To listen to all that my lover said;
Oh, the clover in bloom, I love it! )
In the high, wet grass went the path to hide,
And the low wet leaves hung over;
But I could not pass upon either side,
For I found myself, when I vainly tried,
In the arms of my steadfast lover.
And he held me there and he raised my head,
While he closed the path before me,
And he looked down into my eyes and said --
(How the leaves bent down from the boughs o'erhead,
To listen to all that my lover said,
Oh, the leaves hanging lowly o'er me! )
Had he moved aside but a little way,
I could surely then have passed him;
And he knew I never could wish to stay,
And would not have heard what he had to say,
Could I only aside have cast him.
It was almost dark, and the moments sped,
And the searching night wind found us,
But he drew me nearer and softly said
(How the pure, sweet wind grew still, instead,
To listen to all that my lover said;
Oh, the whispering wind around us ! )
I am sure he knew when he held me fast,
That I must be all unwilling;
For I tried to go, and I would have passed,
As the night was come with its dew at last,
And the sky with its stars was filling.
But he clasped me close when I would have fled,
And he made me hear his story,
## p. 16613 (#313) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16613
And his soul came out from his lips and said —
(How the stars crept out where the white moon led,
To listen to all that my lover said;
Oh, the moon and the stars in glory! )
I know that the grass and the leaves will not tell,
And I'm sure that the wind, precious rover,
Will carry my secret so safely and well
That no being shall ever discover
One word of the many that rapidly fell
From the soul-speaking lips of my lover;
And the moon and the stars that looked over
Shall never reveal what a fairy-like spell
They wove round about us that night in the dell,
In the path through the dew-laden clover,
Nor echo the whispers that made my heart swell
As they fell from the lips of my lover.
HOMER G. GREENE.
TWO DREAMS
HIS
[**
F A Rose could sing
In just one song
All it dreamed of spring
Through the winter long,
Would it pray the zephyr to lend its tone,
Or the brook, that maketh a mimic moan
Over some cruel hard-hearted stone ?
Or the mating bird, who sings his best
On the bough that shadows his covert nest ?
Ah, no, my Beautiful! thine alone
Of all the music to Echo known,
Thy sweet soprano, with silvery ring,
Would be the voice
Of its loving choice,
If a Rose could sing!
HERS
Could I be a Rose for a sweet, swift hour,-
A passionate, purple, perfect flower,
Not a breath would I spare to the vagrant air,
For the woodland warbler I would not care:
## p. 16614 (#314) ##########################################
16614
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
But oh! if my human lover came,
Then would I blush like a heart of flame,-
Like a heart of flame I would send a sigh,
A note of perfume, when he drew nigh,
That should make him take me ere bees could sip,
That should woo him to me with bloomy lip;
Till, his kisses culling the flower of me,
My petals close on his lips would close,
And - once more a Woman I think I'd be
Could I be a Rose!
HENRY W. AUSTIN.
JUNE IN LONDON
(WITH PUPILS)
B
OOKS and heat, the dullard mind
Reeling under Cicero;
London landscape, roof and blind
Blacker e'en than London snow;
Pupils coming all day long,
All my pause the thought that she,
She I love, my joy and song,
Dreams by day and night of me.
Ah, might I gather a rose with its dew
For her heart on this bright June morning!
Doric of the roughest mold
Planned to make a Master sour;
Thirty lines of Virgil's gold
Slowly melting in an hour!
Ovid's ingots and the gems
Horace polished for our eyes
In a maze of roots and stems,
Hurdy-gurdies, cabmen's cries !
Ah, might I gather a rose in its dew
For her heart on this bright June morning!
Envious twigs in leafy nook
Catch my love's long tresses fair,
E'en as Grecian branches shook
Down Diana's crown of hair!
While on Cæsar's bridge I stand,
Fancy brings (but could they speak! )
## p. 16615 (#315) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16615
Laura's lips, and, faintly tanned,
Peachy glimpses of her cheek!
Ah, might I gather a rose in its dew
For her heart on this bright June morning!
NORMAN R. GALE.
TO PHILLIS
To ABANDON THE COURT
F"
JE on this courtly life, full of displeasure!
Where neither frowns nor smiles keep any measure,
But every passion governs in extreme:
Free love and faith from hence falsehood doth banish,
And vows of friendship here like vapors vanish;
Loyalty's counted but a dream;
Inconstant favors like rivers gliding;
Truth is despised
Whilst flattery's prized;
Poor virtue here hath no certain abiding.
Then let's no longer stay, my fairest Phillis;
But let us fly from hence, where so much ill is,
Into some desert place there to abide;
True love shall go with us, and faith unfeigned,
Pure thoughts, embraces chaste, and vows unstained.
Virtue herself shall ever be our guide ; –
In cottage poor, where neither frowning fortune
Nor change of fate
Can once abate
Our sweet content, or peace at all importune.
There will we drive our focks from hill and valley,
And whilst they feeding are, we'll sit and dally;
And thy sweet voice to sing birds shall invite;
Whilst I with roses, violets, and lilies
Will flowery garlands make to crown my Phillis,
Or numbered verses to thy praise indite.
And when the sun is westwardly declining,
Our flocks and we
Will homeward flee
And rest ourselves until the sun's next shining.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16616 (#316) ##########################################
16616
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
WINIFREDA
A**
WAY! let naught to love displeasing,
My Winifreda, move your care;
Let naught delay the heavenly blessing -
Nor squeamish pride nor gloomy fear.
What though no grants of royal donors
With pompous title grace our blood ?
We'll shine in more substantial honors,
And to be noble we'll be good.
Our name, while virtue thus we tender,
Will sweetly sound where'er 'tis spoke;
And all the great ones they shall wonder
How they respect such little folk.
What though from Fortune's lavish bounty
No mighty treasures we possess ?
We'll find within our pittance plenty,
And be content without excess.
I
Still shall each kind returning season
Sufficient for our wishes give;
For we will live a life of reason,
And that's the only life to live.
1
Through youth and age in love excelling,
We'll hand in hand together tread;
Sweet smiling peace shall crown our dwelling,
And babes, sweet smiling babes, our bed.
How should I love the pretty creatures,
While round my knees they fondly clung,
To see them look their mother's features,
To hear them lisp their mother's tongue!
And when with envy Time transported
Shall think to rob us of our joys,
You'll in your girls again be courted,
And I'll go wooing in my boys.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16617 (#317) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16617
PRISCILLA
PRIS
RISCILLA hath come back to town
A little bandit queen;
Her cheek hath robbed the berry's brown,
Her eye the dewdrop's sheen.
Upon her lips there brightly glows
The poppy's crimson hue;
With autumn music in her toes
She charms the avenue.
Alas! how wildly hearts will beat
That late kept slowest time;
Alas! how many a snowy sheet
Will meet its fate in rhyme!
Laugh, Cupid, laugh, with saucy glee
At all the pangs in store;
But never point thy dart at me,-
My heart was hers before.
SAMUEL MINTURN PECK.
PEPITA
U”
P in her balcony where
Vines through the lattices run,
Spilling a scent on the air,
Setting a screen to the sun,
Fair as the morning is fair,
Sweet as a blossom is sweet,
Dwells in her rosy retreat
Pepita.
Often a glimpse of her face,
When the wind rustles the vine,
Parting the leaves for a space,
Gladdens this window of mine:
Pink in its leafy embrace,
Pink as a roseleaf is pink,
Sweet as a blossom I think
Pepita.
I who dwell over the way
Watch where Pepita is hid,
Safe from the glare of the day
Like an eye under its lid:
## p. 16618 (#318) ##########################################
16618
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Over and over I say -
Name like the song of a bird,
Melody shut in a word -
« Pepita. ”
Look where the little leaves stir!
Look, the green curtains are drawn!
There in a blossomy blur
Breaks a diminutive dawn
Dawn and the pink face of her;
Name like the lisp of the South,
Fit for a rose's small mouth,-
Pepita!
FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN.
THE WITCH
C"
HILD! attend to what I say:
Do not turn nor look away.
Roguish eye! you must not wink -
I shall tell you all I think.
Here! Hallo! Don't look away.
Child! attend to what I say!
You're not homely, that is true!
You've an eye that's clear and blue;
Cunning mouth and little nose
Have their merits, I suppose.
Charming is the word to fit it,-
Yes, you're charming; I admit it.
Charming here and charming there,
But no empress anywhere.
No! I cannot quite allow
Beauty's crown would suit your brow.
Charming there and charming here
Do not make a queen, my dear.
For I know a hundred girls,
Brown as berries, fair as pearls,
Each of whom might claim the prize
Given to loveliest lips and eyes —
Yes, a hundred might go in,
Challenge you, sweet child, and win.
## p. 16619 (#319) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16619
A hundred beauties, did I say?
Why, what a number! Yet there may
A hundred thousand girls combine
To drive thee from this heart of mine;
May try together, try alone,
My empress they cannot dethrone.
Whence, then, this imperial right
Over me, your own true knight?
Like an empress is your reign
In my heart for joy or pain;
Death or life, your royal right,
He accepts — your own true knight.
Roguish lip and roguish eye,
Look at me and make reply.
Witch! I wish to understand
How I came into your hand.
Look at me and make reply:
Tell me, roguish lip and eye.
Up and down I search to see
The meaning of this mystery.
Tied so tight by nothing, dear?
Ah! there must be magic here!
Up and down, sweet sorceress, tell!
Where's your wand, and what's your spell ?
GOTTFRIED AUGUST BÜRGER.
Translation of James Freeman Clarke.
I WONDER
I
WONDER, in those dear old days departed,
Whose was the foot that wore this tiny shoe;-
A slipper just as small as Cinderella's,
But not of glass - of faded satin blue,
I'll say it was a princess, tall and stately,
And rather haughty, but not overmuch.
I see her walking through her garden alleys:
How rose-hearts beat to feel that light foot's touch!
I see her treading through her row of pages,
That small foot lifted high with haughty grace;
## p. 16620 (#320) ##########################################
16620
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
A knight beside her, whispering tender speeches, -
She hears them all, with silent, downcast face.
I see her in the dazzling ball-room stepping
Through stately minuet or swifter dance,
Her small foot slipping through her rich robes sweeping,
Or even not perceived — divined, perchance.
How many knights adored you, little slipper,
And knelt before you - fine and fair and blue!
How many you have fled from — too bold suitors!
How many hearts you've trod on, tiny shoe!
CORA FABBRI.
A TWELFTH-CENTURY LYRIC
W"
ILL ye attend me, while I sing
A song of love, - a pretty thing,
Not made on farms:
Nay, by a gentle knight 'twas made,
Who lay beneath an olive's shade
In his love's arms.
A linen undergown she wore,
And a white ermine mantle, o'er
A silken coat;
With flowers of May to keep her feet,
And round her ankles leggings neat,
From lands remote.
Her girdle was of leafage green, -
Spring foliage, with a fringing sheen
Of gold above;
And underneath a love-purse hung,
By bloomy pendants featly strung,
A gift of love.
Upon a mule the lady rode,
The which with silver shoes was shod;
Saddle gold-red;
And behind rose-bushes three
She had set up a canopy
To shield her head.
## p. 16621 (#321) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
1662 1
As so she passed adown the meads,
A gentle childe in knightly weeds
Cried, “Fair one, wait!
What region is thy heritance ? »
And she replied: "I am of France,
Of high estate.
“My father is the nightingale,
Who high within the bosky pale,
On branches sings;
My mother's the canary; she
Sings on the high banks where the sea
Its salt spray Alings. ”
“Fair lady, excellent thy birth;
Thou comest from the chief of earth,
Of high estate:
Ah, God our Father, that to me
Thou hadst been given, fair ladye,
My wedded mate! »
Author Unknown.
Translation of Edward T. McLaughlin.
A NINETEENTH-CENTURY LYRIC
Cº
OULD I answer love like thine,
All earth to me were heaven anew;
But were thy heart, dear child, as mine,
What place for love between us two?
Bright things for tired eyes vainly shine:
A grief the pure heaven's simple blue.
Alas, for lips past joy of wine,
That find no blessing in God's dew!
From dawning summits crystalline
Thou lookest down; thou makest sign
Toward this bleak vale I wander through.
I cannot answer: that pure shrine
Of childhood, though my love be true,
Is hidden from my dim confine;
I must not hope for clearer view.
The sky, the earth, the wrinkled brine,
Would wear to me a fresher hue,
And all once more be half divine,
Could I answer love like thine.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16622 (#322) ##########################################
16622
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
A MODERN PSYCHE
She Speaks
B
Ut do not go — I like to have you near me;
Not quite so near — -sit there, sir, if you please.
The orchestra is silent; you can hear me:
And distance puts us both more at our ease.
I missed you yesterday past all expression,
Though winged with song and mirth the bright hours flew;
Because I think — pray mark my frank confession -
That no one loves me quite so well as you.
-
It may be as you say, that I am taking
A false step that I never can retrace;
Perhaps some day will come a bitter waking,
When love has filed with youth and youth's sweet grace.
Listen! there's some one singing “Traviata':
«Gayly through life” - ah, yes! 'tis apropos!
Your arm, mon ami. A swift waltz will scatter
And turn to blissful breath those sighs of woe.
'Tis strange! I do not care to take your heart, sir,
In fair exchange; and yet, strong jealous wrath
Would kindle all my soul should you depart, sir,
To lay it in some other woman's path.
“Selfish,” am I, and «void of feelings tender"?
Perhaps; but then, I'm sure you can but own
That for a foot so finely arched and slender
A heart is just the fittest stepping-stone.
And if you bade me cease my idle playing
On the tired chords my hands have swept for years,
I think the moonlight o'er my pillow straying
Would find it slightly wet with “idle tears. ”
And yet I love you not. Nay, do not start!
The reason, sir, you never could discover:
Another mystery of a woman's heart,-
I love the love, but cannot love the lover.
ELIZA CALVERT HALL.
## p. 16623 (#323) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
166 23
PHILLIDA FLOUTS ME
O"
H WHAT a plague is love!
I cannot bear it.
She will inconstant prove,
I greatly fear it;
It so torments my mind
That my heart faileth.
She wavers with the wind
As a ship saileth;
Please her the best I may,
She looks another way:
Alack and well-a-day!
Phillida flouts me.
I often heard her say
That she loved posies:
In the last month of May
I gave her roses,
Cowslips and gilliflowers,
And the sweet lily,
I got to deck the bowers
Of my dear Philly:
She did them all disdain,
And threw them back again;
Therefore 'tis flat and plain,
Phillida flouts me.
Which way soe'er I go,
She still torments me;
And whatsoe'er I do,
Nothing contents me:
I fade and pine away
With grief and sorrow;
I fall quite to decay,
Like any shadow:
Since 'twill no better be,
I'll bear it patiently;
Yet all the world may see
Phillida flouts me.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16624 (#324) ##########################################
16624
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
TO HIS COY MISTRESS
H".
AD we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges's side
Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews;
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow:
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest —
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near,
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long-preserved virginity,
And your quaint honor turned to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.
ANDREW MARVELL,
ALL ON ONE SIDE
S"
He is like Nature: and I love
Her ever-changing, wayward moods,
As I adore the sky above;
The far blue hills; the dark, green woods;
## p. 16625 (#325) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16625
The noisy brook; the torrent's roar;
The glamour of a moonlight night;
The never-ending ocean's shore;
The fleecy cloud-heads, soft and white.
She is like Nature. Much she cares,
Though I should love a thousand years!
If I am sad when sunlight glares,
Will cloudless skies weep scalding tears?
And will my gladness dry th rain
Will Nature smile and join my glee?
Will Nature love me back again ?
I think not- and no more will She!
HARRY ROMAINE.
DELAY
TAS
ASTE the sweetness of delaying,
Till the hour shall come for saying
That I love you with my soul:
Have you never thought your heart
Finds a something in the part,
It would miss from out the whole ?
In this rosebud you have given,
Sleeps that perfect rose of heaven
That in Fancy's garden blows:
Wake it not by touch or sound,
Lest perchance 'twere lost, not found,
In the opening of the rose.
Dear to me is this reflection,
Of a fair and far perfection,
Shining through a veil undrawn:
Ask no question then of fate;
Yet a little longer wait
In the beauty of the dawn.
Through our mornings, veiled and tender,
Shines a day of golden splendor,
Never yet fulfilled by day:
Ah! if love be made complete,
Will it, can it, be so sweet
As this ever sweet delay ?
LOUISA BUSHNELL.
XXVIII-1040
## p. 16626 (#326) ##########################################
16626
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
SONG WRITTEN AT SEA
IN
THE FIRST DUTCH WAR, JUNE 2D, 1665, THE NIGHT BEFORE AN
ENGAGEMENT
T°
ALL you ladies now on land,
We men, at sea, indite;
But first would have you understand
How hard it is to write:
The Muses now, and Neptune too,
We must implore to write to you,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
For though the Muses should prove kind,
And fill our empty brain,
Yet if rough Neptune rouse the wind
To wave the azure main,
Our paper, pen, and ink, and we,
Roll up and down our ships at sea,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
Then if we write not by each post,
Think not we are unkind;
Nor yet conclude our ships are lost,
By Dutchmen or by wind:
Our tears we'll send a speedier way,–
The tide shall bring 'em twice a day,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
Let wind and weather do its worst,
Be you to us but kind;
Let Dutchmen vapor, Spaniards curse,
No sorrow we shall find:
'Tis then no matter how things go,
Or who's our friend, or who's our foe,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la. .
But now our fears tempestuous grow,
And cast our hopes away:
Whilst you, regardless of our woe,
Sit careless at a play;
Perhaps permit some happier man
To kiss your hand, or flirt your fan,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
In justice you cannot refuse
To think of our distress,
## p. 16627 (#327) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16627
When we for hopes of honor lose
Our certain happiness:
All those designs are but to prove
Ourselves more worthy of your love,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
And now we've told you all our loves,
And likewise all our fears;
In hopes this declaration moves
Some pity from your tears:
Let's hear of no inconstancy,
We have too much of that at sea,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
CHARLES SACKVILLE (Earl of Dorset).
GLEE
A.
BLOSSOM wreath of rich perfume
I for my fairest wove:
She to her beauty gave its bloom,
Its transience to her love.
I sent her then a pearl to prize:
With much she soon did part,
But kept its brilliance in her eyes,
Its hardness in her heart.
T. M. DOVASTON,
THE WHITE ROSE
SENT BY A YORKSHIRE LOVER TO HIS LANCASTRIAN MISTRESS
II
F This fair rose offend thy sight,
Placed in thy bosom bare,
'Twill blush to find itself less white,
And turn Lancastrian there.
But if thy ruby lip it spy,
As kiss it thou mayst deign,
With envy pale 'twill lose its dye,
And Yorkshire turn again.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16628 (#328) ##########################################
16628
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
MY LOVE IN HER ATTIRE DOTH SHEW HER WIT
M'
y Love in her attire doth shew her wit,
It doth so well become her:
For every season she hath dressings fit,
For winter, spring, and summer.
No beauty she doth miss
When all her robes are on;
But Beauty's self she is
When all her robes are gone.
Author Unknown.
WHENAS IN SILKS MY JULIA GOES
Wh
HENAS in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then (methinks) how sweetly flows
That liquefaction of her clothes!
Next, when I cast mine eyes and see
That brave vibration each way free –
O how that glittering taketh me!
ROBERT HERRICK.
THE TIME O' DAY
IK
F I SHOULD look for the time o' day
On the rose's dial red,
I should think it was just the sunrise hour,
From the flush of its petals spread.
And if I would tell by the lily-bell,
I should think it was calm, white noon;
And the violet's blue would tell by its hue
Of the evening coming soon.
But when I would know by my lady's face,
I am all perplexed the while;
For it's always starlight by her eyes,
And sunlight by her smile.
ALBION FELLOWS BACON.
## p. 16629 (#329) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16629
DEFIANCE
C"
LOTHO, Lachesis, Atropos!
All your gain is not my loss.
Spin your black threads if you will;
Twist them, turn, with all your skill.
Hold! there s one you cannot sever!
One bright thread shall last forever.
You are defied, you, Atropos!
Draw your glittering shears across,
One still mocks your cruel art!
From the fibres of my heart
Did I spin the shining thread
That will live when you are dead.
Fate, but hark! one thing I'll teach:
There are wonders past your reach,
Of the heart and of the soul,-
Woman's love's past your control!
These are not threads of your spinning,
No, nor shall be of your winning.
ANNIE FIELDS.
IF LOVE WERE NOT
I'
F LOVE were not, the wilding rose
Would in its leafy heart inclose
No chalice of perfume.
By mossy bank in glen or grot,
No bird would build, if love were not,
No flower complacent bloom.
The sunset clouds would lose their dyes,
The light would fade from beauty's eyes,
The stars their fires consume.
And something missed from hall and cot
Would leave the world, if love were not,
A wilderness of gloom.
FLORENCE EARLE COATES.
## p. 16630 (#330) ##########################################
166 30
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
PRAISE OF LITTLE WOMEN
N A little precious stone what splendor meets the eyes!
In a little lump of sugar, how much of sweetness lies!
So in a little woman love grows and multiplies:
You recollect the proverb says, A word unto the wise.
I
A peppercorn is very small, but seasons every dinner
More than all other condiments, although 'tis sprinkled thinner:
Just so a little woman is, if love will let you win her,-
There's not a joy in all the world you will not find within her.
And as within the little rose you find the richest dyes,
And in a little grain of gold much price and value lies,
As from a little balsam much odor doth arise,
So in a little woman there's a taste of paradise.
The skylark and the nightingale, though small and light of
wing,
Yet warble sweeter in the grove than all the birds that sing;
And so a little woman, though a very little thing,
Is sweeter far than sugar and flowers that bloom in spring.
JUAN RUIZ DE HITA (Spanish).
THE HEART OF A SONG
DA
EAR love, let this my song fly to you:
Perchance forget it came from me.
It shall not vex you, shall not woo you;
But in your breast lie quietly.
Only beware — when once it tarries,
I cannot coax it from you then:
This little song my whole heart carries,
And ne'er will bear it back again.
For if its silent passion grieve you,
My heart would then too heavy grow;
And it can never, never leave you,
If joy of yours must with it go!
GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP.
## p. 16631 (#331) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16631
<BRING ME WORD HOW TALL SHE IS »
WOMAN IN 1873
-
«How tall is your Rosalind ? » — «Just as high as my heart. ”
-As You Like It. )
WTH
ITHIN a garden shade,
A garden sweet and dim,
Two happy children played
Together he was made
For God, and she for him.
Beyond the garden's shade,
In deserts drear and dim,
Two outcast children strayed
Together - he betrayed
By her, and she by him.
Together, girl and boy,
They wandered, ne'er apart;
Each wrought to each annoy,
Yet each knew never joy
Save in the other's heart.
By her so oft deceived,
By him so sore opprest,
They each the other grieved;
Yet each of each was best
Beloved, and still caressed.
And she was in his sight
Found fairest — still his prize,
His constant chief delight;
She raised to him her eyes
That led her not aright,
And ever by his side
A patient huntress ran
Through forests dark and wide,
And still the Woman's pride
And glory was the Man.
When her he would despise,
She kept him captive bound;
## p. 16632 (#332) ##########################################
16632
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Forbidding her to rise,
By many cords and ties
She held him to the ground.
At length, in stature grown,
He stands erect and free;
Yet stands he not alone,
For his beloved would be
Like him she loveth, wise, like him she loveth, free.
So wins she her desire;
Yet stand they not apart:
For as she doth aspire
He grows; nor stands she higher
Than her Beloved's heart.
DORA GREENWELL.
1
UNDER THE KING
Lº
OVE with the deep eyes and soft hair,
Love with the lily throat and hands,
Is done to death, and free as air
Am I of all my King's commands.
!
How shall I celebrate my joy?
Or dance with feet that once were fleet
In his adorable employ?
Or laugh with lips that felt his sweet?
1
How can I at his lifeless face
Aim any sharp or bitter jest,
Since roguish destiny did place
That tender target in my breast?
1
Nay, let me be sincere and strong:
I cannot rid me of my chains,
I cannot to myself belong:
My King is dead — his soul still reigns.
ETHELWYN WETHERALD.
## p. 16633 (#333) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16633
LIGHT
TH
He night has a thousand eyes,
The day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.
F. W. BOURDILLON.
“A THOUSAND YEARS IN THY SIGHT ARE BUT AS ONE DAY »
EITHER joy nor sorrow move
The figure at the feet of Love;
Light of breathing life is she,
Spirit of immortality.
N"
Lead me up thy stony stair,
O Spirit, into thy great air!
For his day of pain and tears
Is to man a thousand years.
ANNIE FIELDS.
FOR A NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY
W*
HEN first our rose of love disclosed its heart,
Thy natal day (I thought) comes with the spring,
When from the sky the doubting clouds depart,
And rare, rathe blossoms o'er the woodland Aing
A mystic sense of joy.
Yet bitter tears
Will start unbidden at the touch of May.
Love's ecstasy begets love's longing and love's fears,
And naught of these may mar thy natal day.
## p. 16634 (#334) ##########################################
16634
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
When I had learned the richness of thy gift,
Surely the happy month (I thought) is June,
When full and strong the waves of life uplift
The heart upon their surges.
Yet too soon
The ebbing tide will leave the lonely shore;
Full soon the rose must let her beauty fall;
Love's torch will burn to ashes. But no more
May any change our changeless love befall.
Lo! spring and summer faded, and the year
In all their sunny round brought not the morn;
But now, 'mid autumn's melancholy cheer,
'Mid soughing boughs and pallid light, 'tis born.
So drear, thou sayest ?
- Love may the clouds dispel.
So brief?
- With eve our passion shall not cease.
So still?
- Oh let the day this message tell:
Not rapture is love's crowning gift, but peace.
GEORGE M. WHICHER.
THE SURFACE AND THE DEPTHS
LO"
OVE took my life and thrilled it
Through all its strings,
Played round my mind and filled it
With sound of wings;
But to my heart he never came
To touch it with his golden flame.
Therefore it is that singing
I do rejoice,
Nor heed the slow years bringing
A harsher voice;
Because the songs which he has sung
Still leave the untouched singer young.
But whom in fuller fashion
The Master sways,
## p. 16635 (#335) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16635
For him, swift-winged with passion,
Fleet the brief days.
Betimes the enforced accents come,
And leave him ever after dumb.
LEWIS MORRIS.
LOVE BRINGETH LIFE
F
OND hands laid sweet Ophelia softly low
In that small straitened grave beneath the yew;
Thenceforth the world a little sadder grew,
Seeing one lover's footsteps come and go,
And wander in a sudden drear amaze
Through all the winter days.
In darkness lies white-robèd Juliet,
With slender hands close folded on her breast,
On the quick-throbbing heart at length at rest
In the forsaken tomb of Capulet;
And earth hath one more mourning for, a bride,
One other grief to hide.
And what of thee, O tender Marguerite ?
Long dead thou art, and thy lone grave is deep,
But scant to hide from us thy maiden sleep
Loose held within a moldered winding-sheet;
Thou still awakest, and canst not forget,
And pray'st assoilment yet.
And thou, Francesca ? On the open page
Of thy dark history a rose-spray lies,
As though to hide thee from unrighteous eyes,
Whose evil looks are all thy heritage.
Thou art love's victim. On thy pensive face
Grief finds abiding place.
These died for love's sake. Many such there be:
Yet best for thee, O little maid, whose vows
Were made last eve 'neath blossomed cherry-boughs,
Were love, though death shall follow. Best for thee!
Love bringeth sorrow, yet unto our need
Love bringeth life indeed.
CAROLINE WILDER FELLOWES.
## p. 16636 (#336) ##########################################
16636
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE POWER OF BEAUTY
T
HOU needst not weave nor spin,
Nor bring the wheat-sheaves in,
Nor, forth afield at morn,
At eve bring home the corn,
Nor on a winter's night
Make blaze the fagots bright.
So lithe and delicate,
So slender is thy state,
So pale and pure thy face,
So deer-like in their grace
Thy limbs, that all do vie
To take and charm the eye.
Thus, toiling where thou'rt not
Is but the common lot:
Three men mayhap alone
By strength may move a stone
But, toiling near to thee,
One man may work as three,
If thou but bend a smile
To fall on him the while;
Or if one tender glance -
Though coy and shot askance -
His eyes discover, then
One man may work as ten.
Men commonly but ask,
“When shall I end my task? ”
But seeing thee come in,
'Tis, “When may I begin ? »
Such power does beauty bring
To take from toil its sting.
-
If then thou'lt do but this,-
Fling o'er the work a bliss
From thy mere presence,- none
Shall think thou'st nothing done:
Thou needst not weave nor spin,
Nor bring the wheat-sheaves in.
JAMES HERBERT MORSE.
## p. 16637 (#337) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16637
A DANCER
I
N THE lamplight's glare she stood, -
The dancer, the octoroon, —
On a space of polished wood
With glittering sand-grains strewn;
And a rapid rhythmic tune
From the strings of a mandolin
[din.
Leaped up through the air in viewless flight and passed in a strident
Her eyes like a fawn's were dark,
But her hair was black as night,
And a diamond's bluish spark
From its masses darted bright,
While around her figure slight
Clung a web of lace she wore,
In curving lines of unhidden grace as she paused on the sanded floor.
Then the clashing music sprang
From the frets of the mandolin,
While the shadowy arches rang
With insistent echoes thin;
And there, as the spiders spin
Dim threads in a ring complete,
A labyrinthine wheel she wove with the touch of her Aying feet.
To the right she swayed,- to the left, -
Then swung in a circle round,
Fast weaving a changing weft
To the changing music's sound,
As light as a leaf unbound
From the grasp of its parent tree,
That falls and dips with the thistle-down afloat on a windy sea.
And wilder the music spell
Swept on in jarring sound, -
Advanced and rose and fell,
By gathering echoes crowned;
And the lights whirled round and round
O'er the woman dancing there,
With her Circe grace and passionate face and a diamond in her hair.
ERNEST MCGAFFEY.
## p. 16638 (#338) ##########################################
16638
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE LONGING OF CIRCE
T"
THE rapid years drag by, and bring not here
The man for whom I wait;
All things pall on me: in my heart grows fear
Lest I may miss my fate.
I weary of the heavy wealth and ease
Which all my isle enfold;
The fountain's sleepy plash, the summer breeze
That bears not heat nor cold.
With dull, unvaried mien, my maid and I
Plod through our daily tasks:
Gather strange herbs, weave purple tapestry.
Distill in magic flasks.
Most weary am I of these men who yield
So quickly to my spell,
The beastly rout now wandering afield,
With grunt and snarl and yell.
Ah, when, in place of tigers and of swine,
Shall he confront me whom
My song cannot enslave, nor that bright wine
Where rank enchantments fume ?
Then with what utter gladness will I cast
My sorceries away,
And kneel to him, my lord revealed at last,
And serve him night and day!
CAMERON MANN.
CIRCE
W"
a
THAT fate is mine, who, far apart from pains
And fears and turmoils of the cross-grained world,
Dwell, like a lonely god, in a charmed isle
Where I am first and only, and like one
Who should love poisonous savors more than mead,
Long for a tempest on me, and grow sick
Of resting and divine free carelessness!
O me! I am a woman, not a god;
Yea, those who tend me even are more than 1,-
## p. 16639 (#339) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16639
My nymphs who have the souls of flowers and birds
Singing and blossoming immortally.
Ah me! these love a day and laugh again,
And loving, laughing, find a full content;
But I know naught of peace, and have not loved.
Where is my love ? Does some one cry for me,
Not knowing whom he calls ?
Full of all the wildness of the woodland creatures,
Happy in herself is the maiden that I love!
What can have taught her distrust of all I tell her ?
Can she truly doubt me when looking on my brows?
Nature never teaches distrust of tender love-tales,
What can have taught her distrust of all my vows ?
No, she does not doubt me! on a dewy eve-tide,
Whispering together beneath the listening moon,
I prayed till her cheek flushed, implored till she faltered
Fluttered to my bosom - ah! to fly away so soon!
When her mother tends her before the laughing mirror,
Tying up her laces, looping up her hair,
Often she thinks, «Were this wild thing wedded,
I should have more love, and much less care. ”
When her mother tends her before the bashful mirror,
Loosening her laces, combing down her curls,
Often she thinks, “Were this wild thing wedded,
I should lose but one for so many boys and girls. ”
Clambering roses peep into her chamber,
Jasmine and woodbine breathe sweet, sweet;
White-necked swallows twittering of summer,
Fill her with balm and nested peace from head to feet.
Ah! will the rose-bough see her lying lonely,
When the petals fall and fierce bloom is on the leaves ?
Will the autumn garners see her still ungathered,
When the fickle swallows forsake the weeping eaves ?
XXVIII-1039
## p. 16610 (#310) ##########################################
16610
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Comes a sudden question - should a strange hand pluck her!
Oh what an anguish smites me at the thought,
Should some idle lordling bribe her mind with jewels! -
Can such beauty ever thus be bought ?
Sometimes the huntsmen prancing down the valley
Eye the village lasses, full of sprightly mirth;
They see as I see, mine is the fairest!
Would she were older, and could read my worth!
Are there not sweet maidens if she will deny me?
Show the bridal heavens but one bright star ?
Wherefore thus then do I chase a shadow,
Chattering one note like a brown eve-jar?
So I rhyme and reason till she darts before me -
Through the milky meadows from flower to flower she flies,
Sunning her sweet palms to shade her dazzled eyelids
From the golden love that looks too eager in her eyes.
When at dawn she wakens, and her fair face gazes
Out on the weather through the window-panes,
Beauteous she looks! like a white water-lily
Bursting out of bud on the rippled river-plains.
When from bed she rises, clothed from neck to ankle
In her long nightgown, sweet as boughs of May,
Beauteous she looks! like a tall garden lily
Pure from the night and perfect for the day!
Happy, happy time, when the gray star twinkles
Over the fields all fresh with bloomy dew;
When the cold-cheeked dawn grows ruddy up the twilight,
And the gold sun wakes, and weds her in the blue.
Then when my darling tempts the early breezes,
She the only star that dies not with the dark !
Powerless to speak all the ardor of my passion,
I catch her little hand as we listen to the lark.
Shall the birds in vain then valentine their sweethearts,
Season after season tell a fruitless tale ?
Will not the virgin listen to their voices ?
Take the honeyed meaning — wear the bridal veil?
Fears she frosts of winter, fears she the bare branches ?
Waits she the garlands of spring for her dower ?
Is she a nightingale that will not be nested
Till the April woodland has built her bridal bower ?
## p. 16611 (#311) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16611
Then come, merry April, with all thy birds and beauties!
With thy crescent brows and thy flowery, showery glee;
With thy budding leafage and fresh green pastures:
And may thy lustrous crescent grow a honeymoon for me!
Come, merry month of the cuckoo and the violet!
Come, weeping Loveliness, in all thy blue delight!
Lo! the nest is ready, let me not languish longer!
Bring her to my arms on the first May night.
GEORGE MEREDITH.
SING AGAIN
Yºu
1
0
1
4
OU sang me a song:
'Twas the close of the year —
Sing again!
I cannot remember the name
Or the words:
'Tis the same
We listen to hear
When the windows are open in spring,
And the air's full of birds;
One calls from the branch some sweet thing,
And one sings on the wing
The refrain.
You sang me a song
My heart thrilled to hear.
The refrain
Has run like a filet of gold
Through the woof
Of the cold
Dark days of a year.
To-night there's a year at its start,
All the birds are aloof,
Your eyes hold the sun for my part,
And the Spring's in your heart-
Sing again!
MARIE LOUISE VAN VORST.
## p. 16612 (#312) ##########################################
16612
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
WHAT MY LOVER SAID
B'
Y THE merest chance, in the twilight gloom,
In the orchard path he met me —
In the tall, wet grass, with its faint perfume;
And I tried to pass, but he made no room
Oh I tried, but he would not let me.
So I stood and blushed till the grass grew red,
With my face bent down above it,
While he took my hand as he whispering said —
(How the clover lifted each pink, sweet head,
To listen to all that my lover said;
Oh, the clover in bloom, I love it! )
In the high, wet grass went the path to hide,
And the low wet leaves hung over;
But I could not pass upon either side,
For I found myself, when I vainly tried,
In the arms of my steadfast lover.
And he held me there and he raised my head,
While he closed the path before me,
And he looked down into my eyes and said --
(How the leaves bent down from the boughs o'erhead,
To listen to all that my lover said,
Oh, the leaves hanging lowly o'er me! )
Had he moved aside but a little way,
I could surely then have passed him;
And he knew I never could wish to stay,
And would not have heard what he had to say,
Could I only aside have cast him.
It was almost dark, and the moments sped,
And the searching night wind found us,
But he drew me nearer and softly said
(How the pure, sweet wind grew still, instead,
To listen to all that my lover said;
Oh, the whispering wind around us ! )
I am sure he knew when he held me fast,
That I must be all unwilling;
For I tried to go, and I would have passed,
As the night was come with its dew at last,
And the sky with its stars was filling.
But he clasped me close when I would have fled,
And he made me hear his story,
## p. 16613 (#313) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16613
And his soul came out from his lips and said —
(How the stars crept out where the white moon led,
To listen to all that my lover said;
Oh, the moon and the stars in glory! )
I know that the grass and the leaves will not tell,
And I'm sure that the wind, precious rover,
Will carry my secret so safely and well
That no being shall ever discover
One word of the many that rapidly fell
From the soul-speaking lips of my lover;
And the moon and the stars that looked over
Shall never reveal what a fairy-like spell
They wove round about us that night in the dell,
In the path through the dew-laden clover,
Nor echo the whispers that made my heart swell
As they fell from the lips of my lover.
HOMER G. GREENE.
TWO DREAMS
HIS
[**
F A Rose could sing
In just one song
All it dreamed of spring
Through the winter long,
Would it pray the zephyr to lend its tone,
Or the brook, that maketh a mimic moan
Over some cruel hard-hearted stone ?
Or the mating bird, who sings his best
On the bough that shadows his covert nest ?
Ah, no, my Beautiful! thine alone
Of all the music to Echo known,
Thy sweet soprano, with silvery ring,
Would be the voice
Of its loving choice,
If a Rose could sing!
HERS
Could I be a Rose for a sweet, swift hour,-
A passionate, purple, perfect flower,
Not a breath would I spare to the vagrant air,
For the woodland warbler I would not care:
## p. 16614 (#314) ##########################################
16614
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
But oh! if my human lover came,
Then would I blush like a heart of flame,-
Like a heart of flame I would send a sigh,
A note of perfume, when he drew nigh,
That should make him take me ere bees could sip,
That should woo him to me with bloomy lip;
Till, his kisses culling the flower of me,
My petals close on his lips would close,
And - once more a Woman I think I'd be
Could I be a Rose!
HENRY W. AUSTIN.
JUNE IN LONDON
(WITH PUPILS)
B
OOKS and heat, the dullard mind
Reeling under Cicero;
London landscape, roof and blind
Blacker e'en than London snow;
Pupils coming all day long,
All my pause the thought that she,
She I love, my joy and song,
Dreams by day and night of me.
Ah, might I gather a rose with its dew
For her heart on this bright June morning!
Doric of the roughest mold
Planned to make a Master sour;
Thirty lines of Virgil's gold
Slowly melting in an hour!
Ovid's ingots and the gems
Horace polished for our eyes
In a maze of roots and stems,
Hurdy-gurdies, cabmen's cries !
Ah, might I gather a rose in its dew
For her heart on this bright June morning!
Envious twigs in leafy nook
Catch my love's long tresses fair,
E'en as Grecian branches shook
Down Diana's crown of hair!
While on Cæsar's bridge I stand,
Fancy brings (but could they speak! )
## p. 16615 (#315) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16615
Laura's lips, and, faintly tanned,
Peachy glimpses of her cheek!
Ah, might I gather a rose in its dew
For her heart on this bright June morning!
NORMAN R. GALE.
TO PHILLIS
To ABANDON THE COURT
F"
JE on this courtly life, full of displeasure!
Where neither frowns nor smiles keep any measure,
But every passion governs in extreme:
Free love and faith from hence falsehood doth banish,
And vows of friendship here like vapors vanish;
Loyalty's counted but a dream;
Inconstant favors like rivers gliding;
Truth is despised
Whilst flattery's prized;
Poor virtue here hath no certain abiding.
Then let's no longer stay, my fairest Phillis;
But let us fly from hence, where so much ill is,
Into some desert place there to abide;
True love shall go with us, and faith unfeigned,
Pure thoughts, embraces chaste, and vows unstained.
Virtue herself shall ever be our guide ; –
In cottage poor, where neither frowning fortune
Nor change of fate
Can once abate
Our sweet content, or peace at all importune.
There will we drive our focks from hill and valley,
And whilst they feeding are, we'll sit and dally;
And thy sweet voice to sing birds shall invite;
Whilst I with roses, violets, and lilies
Will flowery garlands make to crown my Phillis,
Or numbered verses to thy praise indite.
And when the sun is westwardly declining,
Our flocks and we
Will homeward flee
And rest ourselves until the sun's next shining.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16616 (#316) ##########################################
16616
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
WINIFREDA
A**
WAY! let naught to love displeasing,
My Winifreda, move your care;
Let naught delay the heavenly blessing -
Nor squeamish pride nor gloomy fear.
What though no grants of royal donors
With pompous title grace our blood ?
We'll shine in more substantial honors,
And to be noble we'll be good.
Our name, while virtue thus we tender,
Will sweetly sound where'er 'tis spoke;
And all the great ones they shall wonder
How they respect such little folk.
What though from Fortune's lavish bounty
No mighty treasures we possess ?
We'll find within our pittance plenty,
And be content without excess.
I
Still shall each kind returning season
Sufficient for our wishes give;
For we will live a life of reason,
And that's the only life to live.
1
Through youth and age in love excelling,
We'll hand in hand together tread;
Sweet smiling peace shall crown our dwelling,
And babes, sweet smiling babes, our bed.
How should I love the pretty creatures,
While round my knees they fondly clung,
To see them look their mother's features,
To hear them lisp their mother's tongue!
And when with envy Time transported
Shall think to rob us of our joys,
You'll in your girls again be courted,
And I'll go wooing in my boys.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16617 (#317) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16617
PRISCILLA
PRIS
RISCILLA hath come back to town
A little bandit queen;
Her cheek hath robbed the berry's brown,
Her eye the dewdrop's sheen.
Upon her lips there brightly glows
The poppy's crimson hue;
With autumn music in her toes
She charms the avenue.
Alas! how wildly hearts will beat
That late kept slowest time;
Alas! how many a snowy sheet
Will meet its fate in rhyme!
Laugh, Cupid, laugh, with saucy glee
At all the pangs in store;
But never point thy dart at me,-
My heart was hers before.
SAMUEL MINTURN PECK.
PEPITA
U”
P in her balcony where
Vines through the lattices run,
Spilling a scent on the air,
Setting a screen to the sun,
Fair as the morning is fair,
Sweet as a blossom is sweet,
Dwells in her rosy retreat
Pepita.
Often a glimpse of her face,
When the wind rustles the vine,
Parting the leaves for a space,
Gladdens this window of mine:
Pink in its leafy embrace,
Pink as a roseleaf is pink,
Sweet as a blossom I think
Pepita.
I who dwell over the way
Watch where Pepita is hid,
Safe from the glare of the day
Like an eye under its lid:
## p. 16618 (#318) ##########################################
16618
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Over and over I say -
Name like the song of a bird,
Melody shut in a word -
« Pepita. ”
Look where the little leaves stir!
Look, the green curtains are drawn!
There in a blossomy blur
Breaks a diminutive dawn
Dawn and the pink face of her;
Name like the lisp of the South,
Fit for a rose's small mouth,-
Pepita!
FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN.
THE WITCH
C"
HILD! attend to what I say:
Do not turn nor look away.
Roguish eye! you must not wink -
I shall tell you all I think.
Here! Hallo! Don't look away.
Child! attend to what I say!
You're not homely, that is true!
You've an eye that's clear and blue;
Cunning mouth and little nose
Have their merits, I suppose.
Charming is the word to fit it,-
Yes, you're charming; I admit it.
Charming here and charming there,
But no empress anywhere.
No! I cannot quite allow
Beauty's crown would suit your brow.
Charming there and charming here
Do not make a queen, my dear.
For I know a hundred girls,
Brown as berries, fair as pearls,
Each of whom might claim the prize
Given to loveliest lips and eyes —
Yes, a hundred might go in,
Challenge you, sweet child, and win.
## p. 16619 (#319) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16619
A hundred beauties, did I say?
Why, what a number! Yet there may
A hundred thousand girls combine
To drive thee from this heart of mine;
May try together, try alone,
My empress they cannot dethrone.
Whence, then, this imperial right
Over me, your own true knight?
Like an empress is your reign
In my heart for joy or pain;
Death or life, your royal right,
He accepts — your own true knight.
Roguish lip and roguish eye,
Look at me and make reply.
Witch! I wish to understand
How I came into your hand.
Look at me and make reply:
Tell me, roguish lip and eye.
Up and down I search to see
The meaning of this mystery.
Tied so tight by nothing, dear?
Ah! there must be magic here!
Up and down, sweet sorceress, tell!
Where's your wand, and what's your spell ?
GOTTFRIED AUGUST BÜRGER.
Translation of James Freeman Clarke.
I WONDER
I
WONDER, in those dear old days departed,
Whose was the foot that wore this tiny shoe;-
A slipper just as small as Cinderella's,
But not of glass - of faded satin blue,
I'll say it was a princess, tall and stately,
And rather haughty, but not overmuch.
I see her walking through her garden alleys:
How rose-hearts beat to feel that light foot's touch!
I see her treading through her row of pages,
That small foot lifted high with haughty grace;
## p. 16620 (#320) ##########################################
16620
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
A knight beside her, whispering tender speeches, -
She hears them all, with silent, downcast face.
I see her in the dazzling ball-room stepping
Through stately minuet or swifter dance,
Her small foot slipping through her rich robes sweeping,
Or even not perceived — divined, perchance.
How many knights adored you, little slipper,
And knelt before you - fine and fair and blue!
How many you have fled from — too bold suitors!
How many hearts you've trod on, tiny shoe!
CORA FABBRI.
A TWELFTH-CENTURY LYRIC
W"
ILL ye attend me, while I sing
A song of love, - a pretty thing,
Not made on farms:
Nay, by a gentle knight 'twas made,
Who lay beneath an olive's shade
In his love's arms.
A linen undergown she wore,
And a white ermine mantle, o'er
A silken coat;
With flowers of May to keep her feet,
And round her ankles leggings neat,
From lands remote.
Her girdle was of leafage green, -
Spring foliage, with a fringing sheen
Of gold above;
And underneath a love-purse hung,
By bloomy pendants featly strung,
A gift of love.
Upon a mule the lady rode,
The which with silver shoes was shod;
Saddle gold-red;
And behind rose-bushes three
She had set up a canopy
To shield her head.
## p. 16621 (#321) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
1662 1
As so she passed adown the meads,
A gentle childe in knightly weeds
Cried, “Fair one, wait!
What region is thy heritance ? »
And she replied: "I am of France,
Of high estate.
“My father is the nightingale,
Who high within the bosky pale,
On branches sings;
My mother's the canary; she
Sings on the high banks where the sea
Its salt spray Alings. ”
“Fair lady, excellent thy birth;
Thou comest from the chief of earth,
Of high estate:
Ah, God our Father, that to me
Thou hadst been given, fair ladye,
My wedded mate! »
Author Unknown.
Translation of Edward T. McLaughlin.
A NINETEENTH-CENTURY LYRIC
Cº
OULD I answer love like thine,
All earth to me were heaven anew;
But were thy heart, dear child, as mine,
What place for love between us two?
Bright things for tired eyes vainly shine:
A grief the pure heaven's simple blue.
Alas, for lips past joy of wine,
That find no blessing in God's dew!
From dawning summits crystalline
Thou lookest down; thou makest sign
Toward this bleak vale I wander through.
I cannot answer: that pure shrine
Of childhood, though my love be true,
Is hidden from my dim confine;
I must not hope for clearer view.
The sky, the earth, the wrinkled brine,
Would wear to me a fresher hue,
And all once more be half divine,
Could I answer love like thine.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16622 (#322) ##########################################
16622
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
A MODERN PSYCHE
She Speaks
B
Ut do not go — I like to have you near me;
Not quite so near — -sit there, sir, if you please.
The orchestra is silent; you can hear me:
And distance puts us both more at our ease.
I missed you yesterday past all expression,
Though winged with song and mirth the bright hours flew;
Because I think — pray mark my frank confession -
That no one loves me quite so well as you.
-
It may be as you say, that I am taking
A false step that I never can retrace;
Perhaps some day will come a bitter waking,
When love has filed with youth and youth's sweet grace.
Listen! there's some one singing “Traviata':
«Gayly through life” - ah, yes! 'tis apropos!
Your arm, mon ami. A swift waltz will scatter
And turn to blissful breath those sighs of woe.
'Tis strange! I do not care to take your heart, sir,
In fair exchange; and yet, strong jealous wrath
Would kindle all my soul should you depart, sir,
To lay it in some other woman's path.
“Selfish,” am I, and «void of feelings tender"?
Perhaps; but then, I'm sure you can but own
That for a foot so finely arched and slender
A heart is just the fittest stepping-stone.
And if you bade me cease my idle playing
On the tired chords my hands have swept for years,
I think the moonlight o'er my pillow straying
Would find it slightly wet with “idle tears. ”
And yet I love you not. Nay, do not start!
The reason, sir, you never could discover:
Another mystery of a woman's heart,-
I love the love, but cannot love the lover.
ELIZA CALVERT HALL.
## p. 16623 (#323) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
166 23
PHILLIDA FLOUTS ME
O"
H WHAT a plague is love!
I cannot bear it.
She will inconstant prove,
I greatly fear it;
It so torments my mind
That my heart faileth.
She wavers with the wind
As a ship saileth;
Please her the best I may,
She looks another way:
Alack and well-a-day!
Phillida flouts me.
I often heard her say
That she loved posies:
In the last month of May
I gave her roses,
Cowslips and gilliflowers,
And the sweet lily,
I got to deck the bowers
Of my dear Philly:
She did them all disdain,
And threw them back again;
Therefore 'tis flat and plain,
Phillida flouts me.
Which way soe'er I go,
She still torments me;
And whatsoe'er I do,
Nothing contents me:
I fade and pine away
With grief and sorrow;
I fall quite to decay,
Like any shadow:
Since 'twill no better be,
I'll bear it patiently;
Yet all the world may see
Phillida flouts me.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16624 (#324) ##########################################
16624
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
TO HIS COY MISTRESS
H".
AD we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges's side
Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews;
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow:
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest —
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near,
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long-preserved virginity,
And your quaint honor turned to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.
ANDREW MARVELL,
ALL ON ONE SIDE
S"
He is like Nature: and I love
Her ever-changing, wayward moods,
As I adore the sky above;
The far blue hills; the dark, green woods;
## p. 16625 (#325) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16625
The noisy brook; the torrent's roar;
The glamour of a moonlight night;
The never-ending ocean's shore;
The fleecy cloud-heads, soft and white.
She is like Nature. Much she cares,
Though I should love a thousand years!
If I am sad when sunlight glares,
Will cloudless skies weep scalding tears?
And will my gladness dry th rain
Will Nature smile and join my glee?
Will Nature love me back again ?
I think not- and no more will She!
HARRY ROMAINE.
DELAY
TAS
ASTE the sweetness of delaying,
Till the hour shall come for saying
That I love you with my soul:
Have you never thought your heart
Finds a something in the part,
It would miss from out the whole ?
In this rosebud you have given,
Sleeps that perfect rose of heaven
That in Fancy's garden blows:
Wake it not by touch or sound,
Lest perchance 'twere lost, not found,
In the opening of the rose.
Dear to me is this reflection,
Of a fair and far perfection,
Shining through a veil undrawn:
Ask no question then of fate;
Yet a little longer wait
In the beauty of the dawn.
Through our mornings, veiled and tender,
Shines a day of golden splendor,
Never yet fulfilled by day:
Ah! if love be made complete,
Will it, can it, be so sweet
As this ever sweet delay ?
LOUISA BUSHNELL.
XXVIII-1040
## p. 16626 (#326) ##########################################
16626
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
SONG WRITTEN AT SEA
IN
THE FIRST DUTCH WAR, JUNE 2D, 1665, THE NIGHT BEFORE AN
ENGAGEMENT
T°
ALL you ladies now on land,
We men, at sea, indite;
But first would have you understand
How hard it is to write:
The Muses now, and Neptune too,
We must implore to write to you,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
For though the Muses should prove kind,
And fill our empty brain,
Yet if rough Neptune rouse the wind
To wave the azure main,
Our paper, pen, and ink, and we,
Roll up and down our ships at sea,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
Then if we write not by each post,
Think not we are unkind;
Nor yet conclude our ships are lost,
By Dutchmen or by wind:
Our tears we'll send a speedier way,–
The tide shall bring 'em twice a day,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
Let wind and weather do its worst,
Be you to us but kind;
Let Dutchmen vapor, Spaniards curse,
No sorrow we shall find:
'Tis then no matter how things go,
Or who's our friend, or who's our foe,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la. .
But now our fears tempestuous grow,
And cast our hopes away:
Whilst you, regardless of our woe,
Sit careless at a play;
Perhaps permit some happier man
To kiss your hand, or flirt your fan,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
In justice you cannot refuse
To think of our distress,
## p. 16627 (#327) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16627
When we for hopes of honor lose
Our certain happiness:
All those designs are but to prove
Ourselves more worthy of your love,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
And now we've told you all our loves,
And likewise all our fears;
In hopes this declaration moves
Some pity from your tears:
Let's hear of no inconstancy,
We have too much of that at sea,
With a Fa, la, la, la, la.
CHARLES SACKVILLE (Earl of Dorset).
GLEE
A.
BLOSSOM wreath of rich perfume
I for my fairest wove:
She to her beauty gave its bloom,
Its transience to her love.
I sent her then a pearl to prize:
With much she soon did part,
But kept its brilliance in her eyes,
Its hardness in her heart.
T. M. DOVASTON,
THE WHITE ROSE
SENT BY A YORKSHIRE LOVER TO HIS LANCASTRIAN MISTRESS
II
F This fair rose offend thy sight,
Placed in thy bosom bare,
'Twill blush to find itself less white,
And turn Lancastrian there.
But if thy ruby lip it spy,
As kiss it thou mayst deign,
With envy pale 'twill lose its dye,
And Yorkshire turn again.
Author Unknown.
## p. 16628 (#328) ##########################################
16628
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
MY LOVE IN HER ATTIRE DOTH SHEW HER WIT
M'
y Love in her attire doth shew her wit,
It doth so well become her:
For every season she hath dressings fit,
For winter, spring, and summer.
No beauty she doth miss
When all her robes are on;
But Beauty's self she is
When all her robes are gone.
Author Unknown.
WHENAS IN SILKS MY JULIA GOES
Wh
HENAS in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then (methinks) how sweetly flows
That liquefaction of her clothes!
Next, when I cast mine eyes and see
That brave vibration each way free –
O how that glittering taketh me!
ROBERT HERRICK.
THE TIME O' DAY
IK
F I SHOULD look for the time o' day
On the rose's dial red,
I should think it was just the sunrise hour,
From the flush of its petals spread.
And if I would tell by the lily-bell,
I should think it was calm, white noon;
And the violet's blue would tell by its hue
Of the evening coming soon.
But when I would know by my lady's face,
I am all perplexed the while;
For it's always starlight by her eyes,
And sunlight by her smile.
ALBION FELLOWS BACON.
## p. 16629 (#329) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16629
DEFIANCE
C"
LOTHO, Lachesis, Atropos!
All your gain is not my loss.
Spin your black threads if you will;
Twist them, turn, with all your skill.
Hold! there s one you cannot sever!
One bright thread shall last forever.
You are defied, you, Atropos!
Draw your glittering shears across,
One still mocks your cruel art!
From the fibres of my heart
Did I spin the shining thread
That will live when you are dead.
Fate, but hark! one thing I'll teach:
There are wonders past your reach,
Of the heart and of the soul,-
Woman's love's past your control!
These are not threads of your spinning,
No, nor shall be of your winning.
ANNIE FIELDS.
IF LOVE WERE NOT
I'
F LOVE were not, the wilding rose
Would in its leafy heart inclose
No chalice of perfume.
By mossy bank in glen or grot,
No bird would build, if love were not,
No flower complacent bloom.
The sunset clouds would lose their dyes,
The light would fade from beauty's eyes,
The stars their fires consume.
And something missed from hall and cot
Would leave the world, if love were not,
A wilderness of gloom.
FLORENCE EARLE COATES.
## p. 16630 (#330) ##########################################
166 30
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
PRAISE OF LITTLE WOMEN
N A little precious stone what splendor meets the eyes!
In a little lump of sugar, how much of sweetness lies!
So in a little woman love grows and multiplies:
You recollect the proverb says, A word unto the wise.
I
A peppercorn is very small, but seasons every dinner
More than all other condiments, although 'tis sprinkled thinner:
Just so a little woman is, if love will let you win her,-
There's not a joy in all the world you will not find within her.
And as within the little rose you find the richest dyes,
And in a little grain of gold much price and value lies,
As from a little balsam much odor doth arise,
So in a little woman there's a taste of paradise.
The skylark and the nightingale, though small and light of
wing,
Yet warble sweeter in the grove than all the birds that sing;
And so a little woman, though a very little thing,
Is sweeter far than sugar and flowers that bloom in spring.
JUAN RUIZ DE HITA (Spanish).
THE HEART OF A SONG
DA
EAR love, let this my song fly to you:
Perchance forget it came from me.
It shall not vex you, shall not woo you;
But in your breast lie quietly.
Only beware — when once it tarries,
I cannot coax it from you then:
This little song my whole heart carries,
And ne'er will bear it back again.
For if its silent passion grieve you,
My heart would then too heavy grow;
And it can never, never leave you,
If joy of yours must with it go!
GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP.
## p. 16631 (#331) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16631
<BRING ME WORD HOW TALL SHE IS »
WOMAN IN 1873
-
«How tall is your Rosalind ? » — «Just as high as my heart. ”
-As You Like It. )
WTH
ITHIN a garden shade,
A garden sweet and dim,
Two happy children played
Together he was made
For God, and she for him.
Beyond the garden's shade,
In deserts drear and dim,
Two outcast children strayed
Together - he betrayed
By her, and she by him.
Together, girl and boy,
They wandered, ne'er apart;
Each wrought to each annoy,
Yet each knew never joy
Save in the other's heart.
By her so oft deceived,
By him so sore opprest,
They each the other grieved;
Yet each of each was best
Beloved, and still caressed.
And she was in his sight
Found fairest — still his prize,
His constant chief delight;
She raised to him her eyes
That led her not aright,
And ever by his side
A patient huntress ran
Through forests dark and wide,
And still the Woman's pride
And glory was the Man.
When her he would despise,
She kept him captive bound;
## p. 16632 (#332) ##########################################
16632
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Forbidding her to rise,
By many cords and ties
She held him to the ground.
At length, in stature grown,
He stands erect and free;
Yet stands he not alone,
For his beloved would be
Like him she loveth, wise, like him she loveth, free.
So wins she her desire;
Yet stand they not apart:
For as she doth aspire
He grows; nor stands she higher
Than her Beloved's heart.
DORA GREENWELL.
1
UNDER THE KING
Lº
OVE with the deep eyes and soft hair,
Love with the lily throat and hands,
Is done to death, and free as air
Am I of all my King's commands.
!
How shall I celebrate my joy?
Or dance with feet that once were fleet
In his adorable employ?
Or laugh with lips that felt his sweet?
1
How can I at his lifeless face
Aim any sharp or bitter jest,
Since roguish destiny did place
That tender target in my breast?
1
Nay, let me be sincere and strong:
I cannot rid me of my chains,
I cannot to myself belong:
My King is dead — his soul still reigns.
ETHELWYN WETHERALD.
## p. 16633 (#333) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16633
LIGHT
TH
He night has a thousand eyes,
The day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.
F. W. BOURDILLON.
“A THOUSAND YEARS IN THY SIGHT ARE BUT AS ONE DAY »
EITHER joy nor sorrow move
The figure at the feet of Love;
Light of breathing life is she,
Spirit of immortality.
N"
Lead me up thy stony stair,
O Spirit, into thy great air!
For his day of pain and tears
Is to man a thousand years.
ANNIE FIELDS.
FOR A NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY
W*
HEN first our rose of love disclosed its heart,
Thy natal day (I thought) comes with the spring,
When from the sky the doubting clouds depart,
And rare, rathe blossoms o'er the woodland Aing
A mystic sense of joy.
Yet bitter tears
Will start unbidden at the touch of May.
Love's ecstasy begets love's longing and love's fears,
And naught of these may mar thy natal day.
## p. 16634 (#334) ##########################################
16634
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
When I had learned the richness of thy gift,
Surely the happy month (I thought) is June,
When full and strong the waves of life uplift
The heart upon their surges.
Yet too soon
The ebbing tide will leave the lonely shore;
Full soon the rose must let her beauty fall;
Love's torch will burn to ashes. But no more
May any change our changeless love befall.
Lo! spring and summer faded, and the year
In all their sunny round brought not the morn;
But now, 'mid autumn's melancholy cheer,
'Mid soughing boughs and pallid light, 'tis born.
So drear, thou sayest ?
- Love may the clouds dispel.
So brief?
- With eve our passion shall not cease.
So still?
- Oh let the day this message tell:
Not rapture is love's crowning gift, but peace.
GEORGE M. WHICHER.
THE SURFACE AND THE DEPTHS
LO"
OVE took my life and thrilled it
Through all its strings,
Played round my mind and filled it
With sound of wings;
But to my heart he never came
To touch it with his golden flame.
Therefore it is that singing
I do rejoice,
Nor heed the slow years bringing
A harsher voice;
Because the songs which he has sung
Still leave the untouched singer young.
But whom in fuller fashion
The Master sways,
## p. 16635 (#335) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16635
For him, swift-winged with passion,
Fleet the brief days.
Betimes the enforced accents come,
And leave him ever after dumb.
LEWIS MORRIS.
LOVE BRINGETH LIFE
F
OND hands laid sweet Ophelia softly low
In that small straitened grave beneath the yew;
Thenceforth the world a little sadder grew,
Seeing one lover's footsteps come and go,
And wander in a sudden drear amaze
Through all the winter days.
In darkness lies white-robèd Juliet,
With slender hands close folded on her breast,
On the quick-throbbing heart at length at rest
In the forsaken tomb of Capulet;
And earth hath one more mourning for, a bride,
One other grief to hide.
And what of thee, O tender Marguerite ?
Long dead thou art, and thy lone grave is deep,
But scant to hide from us thy maiden sleep
Loose held within a moldered winding-sheet;
Thou still awakest, and canst not forget,
And pray'st assoilment yet.
And thou, Francesca ? On the open page
Of thy dark history a rose-spray lies,
As though to hide thee from unrighteous eyes,
Whose evil looks are all thy heritage.
Thou art love's victim. On thy pensive face
Grief finds abiding place.
These died for love's sake. Many such there be:
Yet best for thee, O little maid, whose vows
Were made last eve 'neath blossomed cherry-boughs,
Were love, though death shall follow. Best for thee!
Love bringeth sorrow, yet unto our need
Love bringeth life indeed.
CAROLINE WILDER FELLOWES.
## p. 16636 (#336) ##########################################
16636
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE POWER OF BEAUTY
T
HOU needst not weave nor spin,
Nor bring the wheat-sheaves in,
Nor, forth afield at morn,
At eve bring home the corn,
Nor on a winter's night
Make blaze the fagots bright.
So lithe and delicate,
So slender is thy state,
So pale and pure thy face,
So deer-like in their grace
Thy limbs, that all do vie
To take and charm the eye.
Thus, toiling where thou'rt not
Is but the common lot:
Three men mayhap alone
By strength may move a stone
But, toiling near to thee,
One man may work as three,
If thou but bend a smile
To fall on him the while;
Or if one tender glance -
Though coy and shot askance -
His eyes discover, then
One man may work as ten.
Men commonly but ask,
“When shall I end my task? ”
But seeing thee come in,
'Tis, “When may I begin ? »
Such power does beauty bring
To take from toil its sting.
-
If then thou'lt do but this,-
Fling o'er the work a bliss
From thy mere presence,- none
Shall think thou'st nothing done:
Thou needst not weave nor spin,
Nor bring the wheat-sheaves in.
JAMES HERBERT MORSE.
## p. 16637 (#337) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16637
A DANCER
I
N THE lamplight's glare she stood, -
The dancer, the octoroon, —
On a space of polished wood
With glittering sand-grains strewn;
And a rapid rhythmic tune
From the strings of a mandolin
[din.
Leaped up through the air in viewless flight and passed in a strident
Her eyes like a fawn's were dark,
But her hair was black as night,
And a diamond's bluish spark
From its masses darted bright,
While around her figure slight
Clung a web of lace she wore,
In curving lines of unhidden grace as she paused on the sanded floor.
Then the clashing music sprang
From the frets of the mandolin,
While the shadowy arches rang
With insistent echoes thin;
And there, as the spiders spin
Dim threads in a ring complete,
A labyrinthine wheel she wove with the touch of her Aying feet.
To the right she swayed,- to the left, -
Then swung in a circle round,
Fast weaving a changing weft
To the changing music's sound,
As light as a leaf unbound
From the grasp of its parent tree,
That falls and dips with the thistle-down afloat on a windy sea.
And wilder the music spell
Swept on in jarring sound, -
Advanced and rose and fell,
By gathering echoes crowned;
And the lights whirled round and round
O'er the woman dancing there,
With her Circe grace and passionate face and a diamond in her hair.
ERNEST MCGAFFEY.
## p. 16638 (#338) ##########################################
16638
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE LONGING OF CIRCE
T"
THE rapid years drag by, and bring not here
The man for whom I wait;
All things pall on me: in my heart grows fear
Lest I may miss my fate.
I weary of the heavy wealth and ease
Which all my isle enfold;
The fountain's sleepy plash, the summer breeze
That bears not heat nor cold.
With dull, unvaried mien, my maid and I
Plod through our daily tasks:
Gather strange herbs, weave purple tapestry.
Distill in magic flasks.
Most weary am I of these men who yield
So quickly to my spell,
The beastly rout now wandering afield,
With grunt and snarl and yell.
Ah, when, in place of tigers and of swine,
Shall he confront me whom
My song cannot enslave, nor that bright wine
Where rank enchantments fume ?
Then with what utter gladness will I cast
My sorceries away,
And kneel to him, my lord revealed at last,
And serve him night and day!
CAMERON MANN.
CIRCE
W"
a
THAT fate is mine, who, far apart from pains
And fears and turmoils of the cross-grained world,
Dwell, like a lonely god, in a charmed isle
Where I am first and only, and like one
Who should love poisonous savors more than mead,
Long for a tempest on me, and grow sick
Of resting and divine free carelessness!
O me! I am a woman, not a god;
Yea, those who tend me even are more than 1,-
## p. 16639 (#339) ##########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16639
My nymphs who have the souls of flowers and birds
Singing and blossoming immortally.
Ah me! these love a day and laugh again,
And loving, laughing, find a full content;
But I know naught of peace, and have not loved.
Where is my love ? Does some one cry for me,
Not knowing whom he calls ?
