16378 (#78) ###########################################
16378
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And softest hands his limbs compose,
Or garments o'er him spread;
But ye who shun the bloody fray
Where fall the mangled brave,
Go strip his coffin-lid away,
And see him in his grave!
16378
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And softest hands his limbs compose,
Or garments o'er him spread;
But ye who shun the bloody fray
Where fall the mangled brave,
Go strip his coffin-lid away,
And see him in his grave!
Warner - World's Best Literature - v28 - Songs, Hymns, Lyrics
with what a pretty throat
Poor Robin Redbreast tunes his note!
Hark, how the jolly cuckoos sing
«Cuckoo,” to welcome in the spring.
John Lyly.
## p. 16363 (#63) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16363
SONG TO GABRIELLE
M
ORNING bright,
Rise to sight, -
Glad am I thy face to see:
One I love,
All above,
Has a ruddy cheek like thee.
Fainter far
Roses are,
Though with morning dew-drops bright;
Ne'er was fur
Soft like her,
Milk itself is not so white.
When she sings,
Soon she brings
Listeners out from every cot;
Pensive swains
Hush their strains, -
All their sorrows are forgot.
She is fair
Past compare ;
One small hand her waist can span.
Eyes of light -
Stars, though bright,
Match those eyes you never can.
Hebe blest
Once the best
Food of gods before her placed :
When I sip
Her red lip,
I can still the nectar taste.
KING HENRY IV. OF FRANCE.
NELLY OF THE TOP-KNOTS
D'
EAR God! were I fisher and
Back in Binédar,
And Nelly a fish who
Would swim in the bay there,
## p. 16364 (#64) ###########################################
16364
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
I would privately set there
My net there to catch her:
In Erin no maiden
Is able to match her.
And Nelly, dear God!
Why! you should not thus flee me:
I long to be near thee
And hear thee and see thee;
My hand on the Bible,
And I swearing and kneeling,
And giving thee part
Of the heart you are stealing.
I've a fair yellow casket
And it fastened with crystal,
And the lock opens not
To the shot of a pistol.
To Jesus I pray,
And to Columbkill's Master,
That Mary may guide thee
Aside from disaster.
We may be, O maiden
Whom none may disparage,
Some morning a-hearing
The sweet mass of marriage;
But if fate be against us,
To rend us and push us,
I shall inourn as the blackbird
At eve in the bushes.
O God! were she with me
Where the gull Aits and tern,
Or in Paris the smiling, .
Or an isle in Loch Erne,
I would coax her so well,
I would tell her my story,
And talk till I won her,-
My sunshine of glory!
DOUGLAS HYDE.
## p. 16365 (#65) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16365
THE SEA-FOWLER
T
He baron hath the landward park, the fisher hath the sea;
But the rocky haunts of the sea-fowl belong alone to me.
The baron hunts the running deer, the fisher nets the brine;
But every bird that builds a nest on ocean-cliffs is mine.
Come on then, Jock and Alick, let's to the sea-rocks bold:
I was trained to take the sea-fowl ere I was five years old.
The wild sea roars, and lashes the granite crags below,
And round the misty islets the loud strong tempests blow.
And let them blow! Roar wind and wave, they shall not me
dismay:
I've faced the eagle in her nest and snatched her young away.
The eagle shall not build her nest, proud bird although she be,
Nor yet the strong-winged cormorant, without the leave of me.
The eider-duck has laid her eggs, the tern doth hatch her young,
And the merry gull screams o'er her brood; but all to me belong.
Away, then, in the daylight, and back again ere eve:
The eagle could not rear her young unless I gave her leave.
The baron hath the landward park, the fisher hath the sea;
But the rocky haunts of the sea-fowl belong alone to me.
MARY HOWITT.
PACK, CLOUDS, AWAY
Pack.
ACK, clouds, away; and welcome, day;
With night we banish sorrow:
Sweet air, blow soft; mount, lark, aloft,
To give my love good-morrow.
Wings from the wind to please her mind,
Notes from the lark I'll borrow:
Bird, prune thy wing; nightingale, sing,
To give my love good-morrow.
To give my love good-morrow,
Notes from them all I'll borrow.
Wake from thy nest, robin redbreast;
Sing, birds, in every furrow;
## p. 16366 (#66) ###########################################
16366
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And from each hill let music shrill
Give my fair love good-morrow!
Blackbird and thrush in every bush,
Stare, linnet, and cock-sparrow,
You pretty elves, amongst yourselves,
Sing my fair love good-morrow.
To give my love good-morrow,
Sing, birds, in every furrow.
THOMAS HEYWOOD.
ANNIE LAURIE
M
AXWELTON braes are bonnie
Where early fa's the dew,
And it's there that Annie Laurie
Gie'd me her promise true; –
Gie'd me her promise true,
Which ne'er forgot will be:
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.
Her brow is like the snaw-drift;
Her throat is like the swan;
Her face it is the fairest
That e'er the sun shone on;—
That e'er the sun shone on
And dark-blue is her ee:
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.
Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa' o' her fairy feet;
Like the winds in summer sighing,
Her voice is low and sweet; —
Her voice is low and sweet,
And she's a' the world to me:
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.
WILLIAM DOUGLAS of Kirkcudbright.
## p. 16367 (#67) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16367
THE POOR CLERK
(AR C'HLOAREK PAOUR)
M
Y WOODEN shoes I've lost them, my naked feet I've torn,
A-following my sweeting through field and brake of thorn:
The rain may beat, and fall the sleet, and ice chill to the
bone,
But they're no stay to hold away the lover from his own.
My sweeting is no older than that love her so,—
She's scarce seventeen; her face is fair, her cheeks like roses glow.
In her eyes there is a fire; sweetest speech her lips doth part:
Her love it is a prison where I've locked up my heart.
Oh, to what shall I liken her, that a wrong it shall not be?
To the pretty little white rose, that is called Rose-Marie ?
The pearl of girls; the lily when among the flowers it grows, –
The lily newly opened, among flowers about to close.
When I came to thee a-wooing, my sweet, my gentle May,
I was as is the nightingale upon the hawthorn spray:
When he would sleep, the thorns they keep a-pricking in his breast;
That he flies up perforce and sings upon the tree's tall crest.
I am as is the nightingale, or as a soul must be
That in the purgatory fires lies, longing to be free;
Waiting the blessed time when I unto your house shall come,
All with the marriage-messenger bearing his branch of broom.
Ah me! my stars are froward; 'gainst nature is my state:
Since in this world I came I've dreed a dark and dismal fate;
I have nor living kin nor friends, mother nor father dear,-
There is no Christian on earth to wish me happy here.
There lives no one hath had to bear so much of grief and shame
For your sweet sake as I have, since in this world I came;
And therefore on my bended knees, in God's dear name I sue,
Have pity on your own poor clerk, that loveth only you!
Mediætal Breton.
Translation of Tom Taylor.
## p. 16368 (#68) ###########################################
16368
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
CUPID'S CURSE
CENONE
FR
AIR and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be,-
The fairest shepherd on our green,
A love for any ladie!
PARIS
Fair and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be,-
Thy love is fair for thee alone,
And for no other ladie!
CENONE
My love is fair, my love is gay,
As fresh as been the flowers in May;
And of my love my roundelay,
My merry merry merry roundelay,
Concludes with Cupid's Curse —
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!
Both sing
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!
ENONE
Fair and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any inay be, -
The fairest shepherd on our green,
A love for any ladie!
PARIS
Fair and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be, -
Thy love is fair for thee alone,
And for no other ladie!
ENONE
My love can pipe, my love can sing,
My love can many a pretty thing,
And of his lovely praises ring
My merry merry roundelays:
Amen to Cupid's Curse!
## p. 16369 (#69) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16369
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!
PARIS
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!
GEORGE PEELE.
THE AVARICIOUS SHEPHERDESS
(L'AVARICIEUSE)
Pa
HILLIS, somewhat hard by nature,
Would not an advantage miss:
She asked Damon - greedy creature! -
Thirty sheep for one small kiss.
Lovely Phillis, on the morrow,
Cannot her advantage keep:
She gives Damon, to her sorrow,
Thirty kisses for one sheep.
On the morrow grown more tender,
Phillis, ah! has come to this:
Thirty sheep she will surrender
For a single loving kiss.
Now another day is over,
Damon sheep and dog might get
For the kiss which he - the rover!
Gave for nothing to Lizette.
CHARLES RIVIÈRE DUFRESNY.
AN UNMARKED FESTIVAL
T"
HERE's a feast undated yet:
Both our true lives hold it fast,-
The first day we ever met.
What a great day came and passed ! -
Unknown then, but known at last.
And we met: You knew not me,
Mistress of your joys and fears;
XXVIII-1024
## p. 16370 (#70) ###########################################
16370
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Held my hand that held the key
Of the treasure of your years,
Of the fountain of your tears.
For you knew not it was •I,
And I knew not it was you.
We have learnt, as days went by:
But a flower struck root and grew
Underground, and no one knew.
Day of days! Unmarked it rose,
In whose hours we were to meet;
And forgotten passed. Who knows,
Was earth cold or sunny, Sweet,
At the coming of your feet ?
One mere day, we thought; the measure
Of such days the year fulfills.
Now, how dearly would we treasure
Something from its fields, its rills
And its memorable hills; –
But one leaf of oak or lime,
Or one blossom from its bowers,
No one gathered at the time.
Oh, to keep that day of ours
By one relic of its flowers!
ALICE MEYNELL.
A SONG OF LIFE
D"
i I seek life ? Not so: its weight was laid upon me;
And yet of my burden sore I may not set myself free.
Two love, and lo, at love's call, a hapless soul must wake:
Like a slave it is called to the world, to bear life, for their love's
sake.
Did I seek love ? Not so: love led me along by the hand.
Love beguiled me with songs and caresses, while I took no note of
the land.
And lo, I stood in a quicksand, but Love had wings, and he fled:
Ah fool, for a mortal to venture where only a god may tread!
AVNE REEVE ALDRICH.
## p. 16371 (#71) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16371
DISAPPOINTMENT
THE
HE bard has sung, God never formed a soul
Without its own peculiar mate, to meet
Its wandering half, when ripe to crown the whole
Bright plan of bliss most heavenly, most complete.
But thousand evil things there are that hate
To look on happiness: these hurt, impede,
And leagued with time, space, circumstance, and fate,
Keep kindred heart from heart, to pine and pant and bleed.
And as the dove to far Palmyra flying
From where her native founts of Antioch beam,
Weary, exhausted, longing, panting, sighing,
Lights sadly at the desert's bitter stream,-
So many a soul, o'er life's drear desert faring,
Love's pure congenial spring unfound, unquaffed,
Suffers — recoils — then, thirsty and despairing
Of what it would, descends and sips the nearest draught!
MARIA GOWEn Brooks (“Maria del Occidente”).
FATE
TVO
wo shall be born the whole wide world apart,
And speak in different tongues, and have no thought
Each of the other's being, and no heed:
And these o'er unknown seas, to unknown lands,
Shall cross, escaping wreck, defying death;
And all unconsciously shape every act
And bend each wandering step to this one end, - .
That one day out of darkness they shall meet
And read life's meaning in each other's eyes.
And two shall walk some narrow way of life,
So nearly side by side that should one turn
Ever so little space to left or right,
They needs must stand acknowledged face to face;
And yet with wistful eyes that never meet,
With groping hands that never clasp, and lips
Calling in vain to ears that never hear,
They seek each other all their weary days,
And die unsatisfied. –And this is Fate.
SUSAN MARR SPALDING.
## p. 16372 (#72) ###########################################
16372
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
LAMENT OF THE IRISH EMIGRANT
I
'M SITTIN' on the stile, Mary,
Where we sat side by side
On a bright May mornin' long ago,
When first you were my bride:
The corn was springin' fresh and green,
And the lark sang loud and high;
And the red was on your lip, Mary,
And the love-light in your eye.
The place is little changed, Mary:
The day is bright as then;
The lark's loud song is in my ear,
And the corn is green again :
But I miss the soft clasp of your hand,
And your breath, warm on my cheek;
And I still keep listenin' for the words
You nevermore will speak.
'Tis but a step down yonder lane,
And the little church stands near,
The church where we were wed, Mary;
I see the spire from here.
But the grave-yard lies between, Mary,
And my step might break your rest, –
For I've laid you, darling, down to sleep,
With your baby on your breast.
I'm very lonely now, Mary,
For the poor make no new friends;
But, oh, they love the better still
The few our Father sends!
And you were all I had, Mary,-
My blessin' and my pride;
There's nothing left to care for now,
Since my poor Mary died.
Yours was the good, brave heart, Mary,
That still kept hoping on,
When the trust in God had left my soul,
And my arm's young strength was gone;
There was comfort ever on your lip,
And the kind look on your brow,-
I bless you, Mary, for that same,
Though you cannot hear me now.
## p. 16373 (#73) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16373
I thank you for the patient smile
When your heart was fit to break,–
When the hunger pain was gnawin' there,
And you hid it for my sake;
I bless you for the pleasant word,
When your heart was sad and sore;—
Oh, I'm thankful you are gone, Mary,
Where grief can't reach you more!
I'm biddin' you a long farewell,
My Mary — kind and true!
But I'll not forget you, darling,
In the land I'm goin' to;
They say there's bread and work for all,
And the sun shines always there,
But I'll not forget old Ireland,
Were it fifty times as fair!
And often in those grand old woods
I'll sit, and shut my eyes,
And my heart will travel back again
To the place where Mary lies;
And I'll think I see the little stile
Where we sat side by side,
And the springin' corn, and the bright May morn,
When first you were my bride.
LADY DUFFERIN
THE REVEL
(TIME OF THE FAMINE AND PLAGUE IN INDIA)
W*
E MEET 'neath the sounding rafter,
And the walls around are bare;
As they shout back our peals of laughter,
It seems that the dead are there.
Then stand to your glasses, steady!
We drink in our comrades' eyes :
One cup to the dead already -.
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Not here are the goblets glowing,
Not here is the vintage sweet;
'Tis cold as our hearts are growing,
And dark as the doom we meet.
## p. 16374 (#74) ###########################################
16374
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
But stand to your glasses, steady!
And soon shall our pulses rise:
A cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
There's many a hand that's shaking,
And many a cheek that's sunk;
But soon, though our hearts are breaking,
They'll burn with the wine we've drunk.
Then stand to your glasses, steady!
'Tis here the revival lies:
Quaff a cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Time was when we laughed at others;
We thought we were wiser then:
Ha! ha! let them think of their mothers,
Who hope to see them again.
No! stand to your glasses, steady!
The thoughtless is here, the wise:
One cup to the dead already —
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Not a sigh for the lot that darkles,
Not a tear for the friends that sink;
We'll fall, 'midst the wine-cup's sparkles,
As mute as the wine we drink.
Come, stand to your glasses, steady!
'Tis this that the respite buys:
A cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
There's a mist on the glass congealing,
'Tis the hurricane's sultry breath;
And thus does the warmth of feeling
Turn ice in the grasp of Death.
But stand to your glasses, steady!
For a moment the vapor flies:
Quaff a cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Who dreads to the dust returning ?
Who shrinks from the sable shore,
Where the high and haughty yearning
Of the soul can sting no more ?
## p. 16375 (#75) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16375
No! stand to your glasses, steady!
The world is a world of lies:
A cup to the dead already -
And hurrah for the next that dies!
Cut off from the land that bore us,
Betrayed by the land we find,
When the brightest have gone before us,
And the dullest are most behind, -
Stand, stand to your glasses, steady!
'Tis all we have left to prize:
One cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
BARTHOLOMEW DOWLING.
THE OLD CHURCH-YARD OF BONCHURCH
Th*
He church-yard leans to the sea with its dead-
It leans to the sea with its dead so long.
Do they hear, I wonder, the first bird's song,
When the winter's anger is all but fled, -
The high, sweet voice of the west wind,
The fall of the warm, soft rain,
When the second month of the year
Puts heart in the earth again ?
Do they hear, through the glad April weather,
The green grasses waving above them ?
Do they think there are none left to love them,
They have lain for so long there together?
Do they hear the note of the cuckoo,
The cry of gulls on the wing,
The laughter of winds and waters,
The feet of the dancing Spring ?
Do they feel the old land slipping seaward,
The old land, with its hills and its graves,
As they gradually slide to the waves
With the wind blowing on them from leeward ?
Do they know of the change that awaits them,
The sepulchre vast and strange ?
Do they long for days to go over,
And bring that miraculous change?
PHILIP BOURKE MARSTON.
## p. 16376 (#76) ###########################################
16376
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
HIS FOOTSTEPS
TH?
He wilderness a secret keeps
Upon whose guess I go:
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard;
And yet I know, I know,
Some day the viewless latch will lift,
The door of air swing wide
To one lost chamber of the wood
Where those shy mysteries hide, -
One yet unfound, exceeding depth,
From which the wood-thrush sings,
Still luring me to darker shades,
In - in— to colder springs.
There is no wind abroad to-day;
But hark the pine-tops' war,
That sleep, and in their dreams repeat
The music of the shore.
What wisdom stirs among the pines ?
What song is that they sing?
Those airs that search the forest's heart,
What rumor do they bring ?
A hushed excitement fills the gloom,
And in the stillness, clear
The river's tell-tale warning rings:
<< 'Tis near -- 'tis near – 'tis near ! »
As in the fairy tale, more loud
The ghostly music plays,
When, toward the enchanted bower, the prince
Draws closer through the maze.
Nay, nay - I track a fleeter game,
A wilder than ye know,
To lairs beyond the utmost haunt
Of thrush or vireo.
This way it passed: the scent lies fresh;
The ferns still lightly shake.
Ever I follow hard upon,
But never overtake.
HENRY AUGUSTIN BEERS.
## p. 16377 (#77) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16377
THE INDIAN'S DEATH SONG
HE sun sets in night and the stars shun the day,
But glory remains when their light fades away.
Begin, ye tormentors — your threats are in vain,
For the son of Alknomook shall never complain.
T*
Remember the arrows he shot from his bow!
Remember the chiefs whom his hatchet laid low!
Why so slow ? do you think I will shrink from the pain ?
No! the son of Alknomook shall never complain.
Remember the place where in ambush we lay,
And the scalps that we tore from your nation away. -
Now the flame rises fast, you exult in my pain;
But the son of Alknomook shall never complain.
I go to the land where my father has gone:
His ghost shall rejoice at the fame of his son.
Death comes like a friend, to release me from pain;
And thy son, O Alknomook, has scorned to complain.
ANNE HUNTER.
THE PLACE TO DIE
HOW
ow little recks it where men die,
When once the moment's past
In which the dim and glazing eye
Has looked on earth its last;
Whether beneath the sculptured urn
The coffined form shall rest,
Or in its nakedness, return
Back to its mother's breast.
The soldier falls 'mid corses piled
Upon the battle-plain,
Where reinless war-steeds gallop wild
Above the gory slain;
But though his corse be grim to see,
Hoof-trampled on the sod,
What recks it when the spirit free
Has soared aloft to God?
The coward's dying eye may close
Upon his downy bed,
## p.
16378 (#78) ###########################################
16378
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And softest hands his limbs compose,
Or garments o'er him spread;
But ye who shun the bloody fray
Where fall the mangled brave,
Go strip his coffin-lid away,
And see him in his grave!
'Twere sweet indeed to close our eyes
With those we cherish near,
And wafted upward by their sighs,
Soar to some calmer sphere;
But whether on the scaffold high,
Or in the battle's van,
The fittest place where man can die
Is where he dies for man!
MICHAEL JULAND BARRY.
IF I SHOULD DIE TO-NIGHT
Is
F I SHOULD die to-night,
My friends would look upon my quiet face
Before they laid it in its resting-place,
And deem that death had left it almost fair;
And laying snow-white flowers against my hair,
Would smooth it down with tearful tenderness,
And fold my hands with lingering caress
Poor hands, so empty and so cold to-night!
If I should die to-night,
My friends would call to mind, with loving thought,
Some kindly deed the icy hands had wrought;
Some gentle word the frozen lips had said;
Errands on which the willing feet had sped:
The memory of my selfishness and pride,
My hasty words, would all be put aside,
And so I should be loved and mourned to-night.
If I should die to-night,
Even hearts estranged would turn once more to me,
Recalling other days remorsefully;
The eyes that chill me with averted glance
Would look upon me as of yore, perchance,
And soften in the old familiar way:
For who could war with dumb, unconscious clay?
So I might rest, forgiven of all, to-night.
## p. 16379 (#79) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16379
O friends, I pray to-night,
Keep not your kisses for my dead, cold brow!
The way is lonely: let me feel them now.
Think gently of me: I am travel-worn;
My faltering feet are pierced with many a thorn.
Forgive, O hearts estranged, forgive, I plead!
When dreamless rest is mine, I shall not need
The tenderness for which I long to-night.
BELLE E. SMITH.
A LITTLE WHILE
B
EYOND the smiling and the weeping
I shall be soon;
Beyond the waking and the sleeping,
Beyond the sowing and the reaping,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the blooming and the fading
I shall be soon;
Beyond the shining and the shading,
Beyond the hoping and the dreading,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the rising and the setting
I shall be soon;
Beyond the calming and the fretting,
Beyond remembering and forgetting,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the gathering and the strowing
I shall be soon;
Beyond the ebbing and the flowing,
Beyond the coming and the going,
I shall be soon.
## p. 16380 (#80) ###########################################
16380
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the parting and the meeting
I shall be soon;
Beyond the farewell and the greeting,
Beyond this pulse's fever-beating,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the frost-chain and the fever
I shall be soon;
Beyond the rock-waste and the river,
Beyond the ever and the never,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
HORATIUS BONAR.
WHEN WE ARE ALL ASLEEP
WHEN
HEN He returns, and finds the world so drear,
All sleeping, young and old, unfair and fair,
Will he stoop down and whisper in each ear,
“Awaken! ” or for pity's sake forbear,
Saying, “How shall I meet their frozen stare
Of wonder, and their eyes so full of fear?
How shall I comfort them in their despair,
If they cry out, “Too late! let us sleep here) ? »
Perchance he will not wake us up, but when
He sees us look so happy in our rest,
Will murmur, Poor dead women and dead men!
Dire was their doom, and weary was their quest, -
Wherefore awake them into life again?
Let them sleep on untroubled — it is best. ”
»
ROBERT BUCHANAN.
## p. 16381 (#81) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16381
THE MISTLETOE BOUGH
- The happiest of the happy,
When a spring-lock that lay in ambush there
Fastened her down forever. - Rogers.
T"
HE mistletoe hung in the castle hall,
The holly branch shone on the old oak wall;
And the baron's retainers were blithe and gay,
And keeping their Christmas holiday.
The baron beheld, with a father's pride,
His beautiful child, young Lovell's bride;
While she, with her bright eyes, seemed to be
The star of the goodly company.
I'm weary of dancing now," she cried:
“Here tarry a moment — I'll hide — I'll hide!
And, Lovell, be sure thou'rt first to trace
The clue to my secret lurking-place. ”
Away she ran - and her friends began
Each tower to search, and each nook to scan;
And young Lovell cried, “Oh! where dost thou hide ?
I'm lonely without thee, my own dear bride. "
They sought her that night, and they sought her next
day;
And they sought her in vain, when a week passed away!
In the highest — the lowest — the loneliest spot,
Young Lovell sought wildly — but found her not.
And years flew by, and their grief at last
Was told as a sorrowful tale long past;
And when Lovell appeared, the children cried,
“See! the old man weeps for his fairy bride. ”
At length an oak chest, that had long lain hid,
Was found in the castle: they raised the lid;
And a skeleton form lay moldering there
In the bridal wreath of that lady fair!
Oh, sad was her fate! In sportive jest
She hid from her lord in the old oak chest;
It closed with a spring! -- and, dreadful doom,
The bride lay clasped in her living tomb!
THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY,
## p. 16382 (#82) ###########################################
16382
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
ANDRÉ'S RIDE
W***
"HEN André rode to Pont-du-lac,
With all his raiders at his back,
Mon Dieu! the tumult in the town!
Scarce clanged the great portcullis down
Ere in the sunshine gleamed his spears,
And up marched all his musketeers,
And far and fast in haste's array
Sped men to fight and priests to pray:
In every street a barricade
Of aught that lay to hand was made;
From every house a man was told,
Nor quittance given to young or old:
Should youth be spared or age be slack
When André rode to Pont-du-lac?
When André rode to Pont-du-lac,
With all his ravening reiver-pack,
The mid lake was a frozen road
Unbending to the cannon's load;
No warmth the sun had as it shone;
The kine were stalled, the birds were gone;
Like wild things seemed the shapes of fur
With which was every street astir,
And over all the huddling crowd
The thick breath hung - a solid cloud;
Roof, road, and river, all were white;
Men moved benumbed by day — by night
The boldest durst not bivouac,
When André rode to Pont-du-lac.
When André rode to Pont-du-lac,
We scarce could stem his swift attack;
A halt, a cheer, a bugle-call, -
Like wild-cats they were up the wall:
But still as each man won the town,
We tossed him from the ramparts down;
And when at last the stormers quailed,
And back the assailants shrank assailed,
Like wounded wasps that still could sting,
Or tigers that had missed their spring,
They would not fly, but turned at bay
And fought out all the dying day:
## p. 16383 (#83) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16383
Sweet saints! it was a crimson track
That André left by Pont-du-lac.
When André rode to Pont-du-lac,
Said he, “A troop of girls could sack
This huckster town, that hugs its hoard
But wists not how to wield a sword. ”
It makes my blood warm now to know
How soon Sir Cockerel ceased to crow,
And how 'twas my sure dagger-point
In André's harness found a joint:
For I, who now am old, was young,
And strong the thews were, now unstrung,
And deadly though our danger then,
I would that day were back again;
Ay, would to God the day were back
When André rode to Pont-du-lac!
A. H. BEESLY.
AULD ROBIN GRAY
WEN
HEN the sheep are in the fauld, when the kye's a'at
hame,
And a' the weary warld to rest are gane,
The waes o' my heart fa' in showers frae my e'e,
Unkent by my gudeman, wha sleeps sound by me.
Young Jamie lo'ed me weel, and sought me for his bride,
But saving ae crown-piece he had naething else beside;
To mak' the crown a pound my Jamie gaed to sea,
And the crown and the pound - they were baith for me.
He hadna been gane a twelve month and a day
When my father brake his arm, and the cow was stown away;
My mither she fell sick — my Jamie was at sea -
And Auld Robin Gray came a-courting me.
My father couldna work, my mother couldna spin;
I toiled day and night, but their bread I couldna win:
Auld Rob maintained them baith, and wi' tears in his e'e,
Said, Jeanie, for their sakes, will ye no marry me? ”
My heart it said na, and I looked for Jamie back:
But hard blew the winds, and his ship was a wrack;
## p. 16384 (#84) ###########################################
16384
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
His ship was a wrack – Why didna Jamie dee?
Or why am I spared to cry, Wae is me!
-
My father urged me sair — my mother didna speak,
But she looket in my face till my heart was like to break;
They gied him my hand — my heart was in the sea
And so Robin Gray, he was gudeman to me.
I hadna been his wife a week but only four,
When, mournfu' as I sat on the stane at my door,
I saw my Jamie's ghaist — for I couldna think it he
Till he said, “I'm come hame, love, to marry thee. ”
Oh! sair, sair did we greet, and mickle say of a';
I gi'ed him ae kiss and bade him gang awa'.
I wish that I were dead, but I'ın na like to dee,
For though my heart is broken, I'm but young, wae's me!
I gang like a ghaist, and I carena much to spin ;
I darena think on Jamie, for that would be a sin:
But I'll do my best a gude wife to be,
For oh! Robin Gray he is kind to me.
LADY ANNE BARNARD.
WERENA MY HEART LICHT
T"
HERE was ance a may and she loved na men;
She biggit her bonnie bower down i' yon glen:
But naw she cries Dool! and Well-a-day!
Come down the green gate, and come here away.
When bonnie young Johnnie cam' ower the sea,
He said he saw naething sae lovely as me;
He hecht me baith rings and manie braw things,
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
His wee wilfu' tittie she loved na me;
(I was taller and twice as bonnie as she :)
She raised sic a pother 'twixt him and his mother,
That werena my heart licht I wad dee.
The day it was set for the bridal to be:
The wife took a dwam and lay down to dee:
She mained and she graned wi' fause dolor and pain,
Till he vowed he never wad see ine again.
## p. 16385 (#85) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16385
His kindred socht ane o' higher degree,
Said, Would he wed ane was landless like me ?
Although I was bonnie, I wasna for Johnnie,
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
They said I had neither coo nor cawf,
Nor dribbles o’ drink coming through the draff,
Nor pickles o' meal runnin' frae the mill-e'e,-
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
His tittie she was baith wylie and slee:
She spied me as I came ower the lea;
And then she ran in, and made a loud din;-
Believe your ain een an ye trow na me.
His bonnet stood aye fu' round on his brow;
His old ane looked better than many ane's new:
But now he lets 't wear any gait it will hing,
And casts himsel dowie upon the com-bing.
And now he gaes daundrin' about the dykes,
And a' he dow do is to hound the tykes:
The livelong nicht he ne'er steeks his e'e;
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
Oh! were we young now as we ance hae been,
We should hae been gallopin' down on yon green,
And linkin' it ower the lily-white lea:
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
LADY GRIZEL BAILLIE
TO NELL GWYNNE'S LOOKING-GLASS
G"
LASS antique, 'twixt thee and Nell
Draw we here a parallel.
She, like thee, was forced to bear
All reflections, foul or fair;
Thou art deep and bright within, -
Depths as bright belonged to Gwynne;
Thou art very frail as well,
Frail as fesh is, – so was Nell.
Thou, her glass, art silver-lined, -
She too had a silver mind!
XXVIII-1025
## p. 16386 (#86) ###########################################
16386
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Thine is fresh till this far day, -
Hers till death ne'er wore away.
Thou dost to thy surface win
Wandering glances, --so did Gwynne;
Eyes on thee long love to dwell, -
So men's eyes would do on Nell.
Lifelike forms in thee are sought,-
Such the forms the actress wrought;
Truth unfailing rests in you, —
Nell, whate'er she was, was true.
Clear as virtue, dull as sin,
Thou art oft,- as oft was Gwynne;
Breathe on thee, and drops will swell, —
Bright tears dimmed the eyes of Nell.
Thine's a frame to charm the sight,-
Framed was she to give delight.
Waxen forms here truly show
Charles above and Nell below;
But between them, chin with chin,
Stuart stands as low as Gwynne,
Paired, yet parted, - meant to tell
Charles was opposite to Nell.
Round the glass wherein her face
Smiled so soft, her arms” we trace;
Thou, her mirror, hast the pair,-
Lion here, and leopard there.
She had part in these,- akin
To the lion-heart was Gwynne;
And the leopard's beauty fell
With its spots to bounding Nell.
Oft inspected, ne'er seen through,
Thou art firm, if brittle too,-
So her will, on good intent,
Might be broken, never bent.
What the glass was when therein
Beamed the face of glad Nell Gwynne,
Was that face by beauty's spell
To the honest soul of Nell.
S. LAMAN BLANCHARD.
## p. 16387 (#87) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16387
FROM THE CODE TO MALIBRAN)
O
MARIA FELICIA! the painter and bard,
Behind them, in dying, leave undying heirs:
The night of oblivion their memory spares;
And their great, eager souls, other action debarred,
Against death, against time, having valiantly warred,
Though struck down in the strife, claim its trophies as
theirs.
In the iron engraved, one his name leaves enshrined;
With a golden-sweet cadence another's entwined
Makes forever all those who shall hear it his friends.
Though he died, on the canvas lives Raphael's mind;
And from death's darkest doom till this world of ours
ends,
The mother-clasped infant his glory defends.
As the lamp guards the flame, so the bare marble halls
Of the Parthenon hold, in their desolate space,
The memory of Phidias enshrined in their walls.
And Praxiteles's child, the young Venus, yet calls
From the altar, where smiling she still holds her place,
The centuries conquered, to worship her grace.
Thus, from age after age while new light we receive,
To rest at God's feet the old glories are gone;
And the accents of genius their echoes still weave
With the great human voice, till their thoughts are but
one:
And of thee, dead but yesterday, all thy fame leaves
But a cross in the dim chapel's darkness — alone.
A cross, and oblivion, silence, and death!
Hark! the wind's softest sob; hark! the ocean's deep breath;
Hark! the fisher-boy singing his way o'er the plains:
Of thy glory, thy hope, thy young beauty's bright wreath,
Not a trace, not a sigh, not an echo remains.
ALFRED DE MUSSET.
Translation of Frances Kemble Butler.
## p. 16388 (#88) ###########################################
16388
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE EARTH AND MAN
A
LITTLE sun, a little rain,
A soft wind blowing from the west
And woods and fields are sweet again,
And warmth within the mountain's breast.
So simple is the earth we tread,
So quick with love and life her frame:
Ten thousand years have dawned and fled,
And still her magic is the same.
A little love, a little trust,
A soft impulse, a sudden dream
And life as dry as desert dust
Is fresher than a mountain stream.
So simple is the heart of man,
So ready for new hope and joy:
Ten thousand years since it began
Have left it younger than a boy.
STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
THE STRANGE COUNTRY
I
HAVE come from a mystical Land of Light
To a Strange Country;
The land I have left is forgotten quite
In the land I see.
The round earth rolls beneath my feet,
And the still stars glow;
The murinuring waters rise and retreat,
The winds come and go.
Sure as a heart-beat all things seem
In this Strange Country;
So sure, so still, in a dazzle of dream,
All things flow free.
'Tis life, all life, be it pleasure or pain,
In the field and the flood,
In the beating heart, in the burning brain,
In the flesh and the blood.
## p. 16389 (#89) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16389
Deep as death is the daily strife
Of this Strange Country:
All things thrill up till they blossom in life,
And flutter and flee.
Nothing is stranger than the rest,
From the Pole to the Pole, -
The weed by the way, the eggs in the nest,
The flesh and the soul.
Look in mine eyes, O man I meet
In this Strange Country!
Lie in my arms, O maiden sweet,
With thy mouth kiss me!
Go by, o king, with thy crowned brow
And thy sceptred hand -
Thou art a straggler too, I vow,
From the same Strange Land.
O wondrous faces that upstart
In this Strange Country! .
O souls, O shades, that become a part
Of my soul and me!
What are ye working so fast and fleet,
( human-kind ?
“We are building cities for those whose feet
Are coming behind;
“Our stay is short; we must fly again
From this Strange Country:
But others are growing, women and men,
Eternally!
Child, what art thou ? and what am I?
But a breaking wave!
Rising and rolling on, we hie
To the shore of the grave.
I have come from a mystical Land of Light
To this Strange Country:
This dawn I came; I shall go to-night,
Ay me! ay me!
I hold my hand to my head, and stand
'Neath the air's blue arc;
## p. 16390 (#90) ###########################################
16390
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
I try to remember the mystical Land,
But all is dark.
And all around me swim shapes like mine
In this Strange Country:
They break in the glamour of gleams divine,
And they moan “Ay me!
Like waves in the cold nioon's silvern breath
They gather and roll;
Each crest of white is a birth or death,
Each sound is a soul.
Oh, whose is the eye that gleams so bright
O'er this Strange Country?
It draws us along with a chain of light,
As the moon the sea!
ROBERT BUCHANAN.
FLOWER OF THE WORLD
HEREVER men sinned and wept,
I wandered in my quest;
At last in a Garden of God
I saw the Flower of the World.
W*
:
This flower had human eyes;
Its breath was the breath of the mouth:
Sunlight and starlight came,
And the flower drank bliss from both.
Whatever was base and unclean,
Whatever was sad and strange,
Was piled around its roots:
It drew its strength from the same.
Whatever was formless and base
Passed into fineness and form;
Whatever was lifeless and mean
Grew into beautiful bloom.
Then I thought, “O Flower of the World,
Miraculous blossom of things,
Light as a faint wreath of snow
Thou tremblest to fall in the wind;
## p. 16391 (#91) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16391
« O beautiful Flower of the World,
Fall not nor wither away:
He is coming – he cannot be far —
The Lord of the flowers and the stars. "
-
And I cried, “O Spirit divine
That walkest the garden unseen!
Come hither, and bless, ere it dies,
The beautiful Flower of the World. ”
>>
ROBERT BUCHANAN.
LOVE STILL HATH SOMETHING
LOVA
OVE still hath something of the sea
From whence his mother rose;
No time his slaves from love can free,
Nor give their thoughts repose.
They are becalmed in clearest days,
And in rough weather tossed;
They wither under cold delays,
Or are in tempests lost.
One while they seem to touch the port;
Then straight into the main
Some angry wind, in cruel sport,
The vessel drives again.
At first disdain and pride they fear,
Which if they chance to 'scape,
Rivals and falsehood soon appear
In a more dreadful shape.
By such degrees to joy they come,
And are so long withstood;
So slowly they receive the sum,
It hardly does them good.
'Tis cruel to prolong a pain;
And to defer a bliss,
Believe me, gentle Hermione,
No less inhuman is.
A hundred thousand foes your fears
Perhaps would not remove;
## p. 16392 (#92) ###########################################
16392
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And if I gazed a thousand years,
I could no deeper love.
'Tis fitter much for you to guess
Than for me to explain;
But grant, oh! grant that happiness
Which only does remain.
SIR CHARLES SEDLEY.
HORIZONS
M'
Y HEART gives thanks for yonder hill,
That makes this valley safe and still;
That shuts from sight my onward way
And sets a limit to my day;
That keeps my thoughts, so tired and weak,
From seeking what they should not seek.
On that fair bound across the west
My eyes find pasturage and rest,
And of its dewy stillness drink,
As do the stars upon its brink;
It shields me from the days to come,
And makes the present hour my home.
Deeper will be my rest to-night
For this near calmness of the height;
Its steadfast boundary will keep
My harbored spirit while I sleep.
Yet somewhere on its wooded sides
To-morrow's onward pathway hides,
And I shall wake at early morn,
To find a world beyond, new-born.
I thank thee, Lord, that thou dost lay
These near horizons on my way.
Poor Robin Redbreast tunes his note!
Hark, how the jolly cuckoos sing
«Cuckoo,” to welcome in the spring.
John Lyly.
## p. 16363 (#63) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16363
SONG TO GABRIELLE
M
ORNING bright,
Rise to sight, -
Glad am I thy face to see:
One I love,
All above,
Has a ruddy cheek like thee.
Fainter far
Roses are,
Though with morning dew-drops bright;
Ne'er was fur
Soft like her,
Milk itself is not so white.
When she sings,
Soon she brings
Listeners out from every cot;
Pensive swains
Hush their strains, -
All their sorrows are forgot.
She is fair
Past compare ;
One small hand her waist can span.
Eyes of light -
Stars, though bright,
Match those eyes you never can.
Hebe blest
Once the best
Food of gods before her placed :
When I sip
Her red lip,
I can still the nectar taste.
KING HENRY IV. OF FRANCE.
NELLY OF THE TOP-KNOTS
D'
EAR God! were I fisher and
Back in Binédar,
And Nelly a fish who
Would swim in the bay there,
## p. 16364 (#64) ###########################################
16364
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
I would privately set there
My net there to catch her:
In Erin no maiden
Is able to match her.
And Nelly, dear God!
Why! you should not thus flee me:
I long to be near thee
And hear thee and see thee;
My hand on the Bible,
And I swearing and kneeling,
And giving thee part
Of the heart you are stealing.
I've a fair yellow casket
And it fastened with crystal,
And the lock opens not
To the shot of a pistol.
To Jesus I pray,
And to Columbkill's Master,
That Mary may guide thee
Aside from disaster.
We may be, O maiden
Whom none may disparage,
Some morning a-hearing
The sweet mass of marriage;
But if fate be against us,
To rend us and push us,
I shall inourn as the blackbird
At eve in the bushes.
O God! were she with me
Where the gull Aits and tern,
Or in Paris the smiling, .
Or an isle in Loch Erne,
I would coax her so well,
I would tell her my story,
And talk till I won her,-
My sunshine of glory!
DOUGLAS HYDE.
## p. 16365 (#65) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16365
THE SEA-FOWLER
T
He baron hath the landward park, the fisher hath the sea;
But the rocky haunts of the sea-fowl belong alone to me.
The baron hunts the running deer, the fisher nets the brine;
But every bird that builds a nest on ocean-cliffs is mine.
Come on then, Jock and Alick, let's to the sea-rocks bold:
I was trained to take the sea-fowl ere I was five years old.
The wild sea roars, and lashes the granite crags below,
And round the misty islets the loud strong tempests blow.
And let them blow! Roar wind and wave, they shall not me
dismay:
I've faced the eagle in her nest and snatched her young away.
The eagle shall not build her nest, proud bird although she be,
Nor yet the strong-winged cormorant, without the leave of me.
The eider-duck has laid her eggs, the tern doth hatch her young,
And the merry gull screams o'er her brood; but all to me belong.
Away, then, in the daylight, and back again ere eve:
The eagle could not rear her young unless I gave her leave.
The baron hath the landward park, the fisher hath the sea;
But the rocky haunts of the sea-fowl belong alone to me.
MARY HOWITT.
PACK, CLOUDS, AWAY
Pack.
ACK, clouds, away; and welcome, day;
With night we banish sorrow:
Sweet air, blow soft; mount, lark, aloft,
To give my love good-morrow.
Wings from the wind to please her mind,
Notes from the lark I'll borrow:
Bird, prune thy wing; nightingale, sing,
To give my love good-morrow.
To give my love good-morrow,
Notes from them all I'll borrow.
Wake from thy nest, robin redbreast;
Sing, birds, in every furrow;
## p. 16366 (#66) ###########################################
16366
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And from each hill let music shrill
Give my fair love good-morrow!
Blackbird and thrush in every bush,
Stare, linnet, and cock-sparrow,
You pretty elves, amongst yourselves,
Sing my fair love good-morrow.
To give my love good-morrow,
Sing, birds, in every furrow.
THOMAS HEYWOOD.
ANNIE LAURIE
M
AXWELTON braes are bonnie
Where early fa's the dew,
And it's there that Annie Laurie
Gie'd me her promise true; –
Gie'd me her promise true,
Which ne'er forgot will be:
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.
Her brow is like the snaw-drift;
Her throat is like the swan;
Her face it is the fairest
That e'er the sun shone on;—
That e'er the sun shone on
And dark-blue is her ee:
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.
Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa' o' her fairy feet;
Like the winds in summer sighing,
Her voice is low and sweet; —
Her voice is low and sweet,
And she's a' the world to me:
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.
WILLIAM DOUGLAS of Kirkcudbright.
## p. 16367 (#67) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16367
THE POOR CLERK
(AR C'HLOAREK PAOUR)
M
Y WOODEN shoes I've lost them, my naked feet I've torn,
A-following my sweeting through field and brake of thorn:
The rain may beat, and fall the sleet, and ice chill to the
bone,
But they're no stay to hold away the lover from his own.
My sweeting is no older than that love her so,—
She's scarce seventeen; her face is fair, her cheeks like roses glow.
In her eyes there is a fire; sweetest speech her lips doth part:
Her love it is a prison where I've locked up my heart.
Oh, to what shall I liken her, that a wrong it shall not be?
To the pretty little white rose, that is called Rose-Marie ?
The pearl of girls; the lily when among the flowers it grows, –
The lily newly opened, among flowers about to close.
When I came to thee a-wooing, my sweet, my gentle May,
I was as is the nightingale upon the hawthorn spray:
When he would sleep, the thorns they keep a-pricking in his breast;
That he flies up perforce and sings upon the tree's tall crest.
I am as is the nightingale, or as a soul must be
That in the purgatory fires lies, longing to be free;
Waiting the blessed time when I unto your house shall come,
All with the marriage-messenger bearing his branch of broom.
Ah me! my stars are froward; 'gainst nature is my state:
Since in this world I came I've dreed a dark and dismal fate;
I have nor living kin nor friends, mother nor father dear,-
There is no Christian on earth to wish me happy here.
There lives no one hath had to bear so much of grief and shame
For your sweet sake as I have, since in this world I came;
And therefore on my bended knees, in God's dear name I sue,
Have pity on your own poor clerk, that loveth only you!
Mediætal Breton.
Translation of Tom Taylor.
## p. 16368 (#68) ###########################################
16368
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
CUPID'S CURSE
CENONE
FR
AIR and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be,-
The fairest shepherd on our green,
A love for any ladie!
PARIS
Fair and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be,-
Thy love is fair for thee alone,
And for no other ladie!
CENONE
My love is fair, my love is gay,
As fresh as been the flowers in May;
And of my love my roundelay,
My merry merry merry roundelay,
Concludes with Cupid's Curse —
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!
Both sing
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!
ENONE
Fair and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any inay be, -
The fairest shepherd on our green,
A love for any ladie!
PARIS
Fair and fair and twice so fair,
As fair as any may be, -
Thy love is fair for thee alone,
And for no other ladie!
ENONE
My love can pipe, my love can sing,
My love can many a pretty thing,
And of his lovely praises ring
My merry merry roundelays:
Amen to Cupid's Curse!
## p. 16369 (#69) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16369
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!
PARIS
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods they change for worse!
GEORGE PEELE.
THE AVARICIOUS SHEPHERDESS
(L'AVARICIEUSE)
Pa
HILLIS, somewhat hard by nature,
Would not an advantage miss:
She asked Damon - greedy creature! -
Thirty sheep for one small kiss.
Lovely Phillis, on the morrow,
Cannot her advantage keep:
She gives Damon, to her sorrow,
Thirty kisses for one sheep.
On the morrow grown more tender,
Phillis, ah! has come to this:
Thirty sheep she will surrender
For a single loving kiss.
Now another day is over,
Damon sheep and dog might get
For the kiss which he - the rover!
Gave for nothing to Lizette.
CHARLES RIVIÈRE DUFRESNY.
AN UNMARKED FESTIVAL
T"
HERE's a feast undated yet:
Both our true lives hold it fast,-
The first day we ever met.
What a great day came and passed ! -
Unknown then, but known at last.
And we met: You knew not me,
Mistress of your joys and fears;
XXVIII-1024
## p. 16370 (#70) ###########################################
16370
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Held my hand that held the key
Of the treasure of your years,
Of the fountain of your tears.
For you knew not it was •I,
And I knew not it was you.
We have learnt, as days went by:
But a flower struck root and grew
Underground, and no one knew.
Day of days! Unmarked it rose,
In whose hours we were to meet;
And forgotten passed. Who knows,
Was earth cold or sunny, Sweet,
At the coming of your feet ?
One mere day, we thought; the measure
Of such days the year fulfills.
Now, how dearly would we treasure
Something from its fields, its rills
And its memorable hills; –
But one leaf of oak or lime,
Or one blossom from its bowers,
No one gathered at the time.
Oh, to keep that day of ours
By one relic of its flowers!
ALICE MEYNELL.
A SONG OF LIFE
D"
i I seek life ? Not so: its weight was laid upon me;
And yet of my burden sore I may not set myself free.
Two love, and lo, at love's call, a hapless soul must wake:
Like a slave it is called to the world, to bear life, for their love's
sake.
Did I seek love ? Not so: love led me along by the hand.
Love beguiled me with songs and caresses, while I took no note of
the land.
And lo, I stood in a quicksand, but Love had wings, and he fled:
Ah fool, for a mortal to venture where only a god may tread!
AVNE REEVE ALDRICH.
## p. 16371 (#71) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16371
DISAPPOINTMENT
THE
HE bard has sung, God never formed a soul
Without its own peculiar mate, to meet
Its wandering half, when ripe to crown the whole
Bright plan of bliss most heavenly, most complete.
But thousand evil things there are that hate
To look on happiness: these hurt, impede,
And leagued with time, space, circumstance, and fate,
Keep kindred heart from heart, to pine and pant and bleed.
And as the dove to far Palmyra flying
From where her native founts of Antioch beam,
Weary, exhausted, longing, panting, sighing,
Lights sadly at the desert's bitter stream,-
So many a soul, o'er life's drear desert faring,
Love's pure congenial spring unfound, unquaffed,
Suffers — recoils — then, thirsty and despairing
Of what it would, descends and sips the nearest draught!
MARIA GOWEn Brooks (“Maria del Occidente”).
FATE
TVO
wo shall be born the whole wide world apart,
And speak in different tongues, and have no thought
Each of the other's being, and no heed:
And these o'er unknown seas, to unknown lands,
Shall cross, escaping wreck, defying death;
And all unconsciously shape every act
And bend each wandering step to this one end, - .
That one day out of darkness they shall meet
And read life's meaning in each other's eyes.
And two shall walk some narrow way of life,
So nearly side by side that should one turn
Ever so little space to left or right,
They needs must stand acknowledged face to face;
And yet with wistful eyes that never meet,
With groping hands that never clasp, and lips
Calling in vain to ears that never hear,
They seek each other all their weary days,
And die unsatisfied. –And this is Fate.
SUSAN MARR SPALDING.
## p. 16372 (#72) ###########################################
16372
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
LAMENT OF THE IRISH EMIGRANT
I
'M SITTIN' on the stile, Mary,
Where we sat side by side
On a bright May mornin' long ago,
When first you were my bride:
The corn was springin' fresh and green,
And the lark sang loud and high;
And the red was on your lip, Mary,
And the love-light in your eye.
The place is little changed, Mary:
The day is bright as then;
The lark's loud song is in my ear,
And the corn is green again :
But I miss the soft clasp of your hand,
And your breath, warm on my cheek;
And I still keep listenin' for the words
You nevermore will speak.
'Tis but a step down yonder lane,
And the little church stands near,
The church where we were wed, Mary;
I see the spire from here.
But the grave-yard lies between, Mary,
And my step might break your rest, –
For I've laid you, darling, down to sleep,
With your baby on your breast.
I'm very lonely now, Mary,
For the poor make no new friends;
But, oh, they love the better still
The few our Father sends!
And you were all I had, Mary,-
My blessin' and my pride;
There's nothing left to care for now,
Since my poor Mary died.
Yours was the good, brave heart, Mary,
That still kept hoping on,
When the trust in God had left my soul,
And my arm's young strength was gone;
There was comfort ever on your lip,
And the kind look on your brow,-
I bless you, Mary, for that same,
Though you cannot hear me now.
## p. 16373 (#73) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16373
I thank you for the patient smile
When your heart was fit to break,–
When the hunger pain was gnawin' there,
And you hid it for my sake;
I bless you for the pleasant word,
When your heart was sad and sore;—
Oh, I'm thankful you are gone, Mary,
Where grief can't reach you more!
I'm biddin' you a long farewell,
My Mary — kind and true!
But I'll not forget you, darling,
In the land I'm goin' to;
They say there's bread and work for all,
And the sun shines always there,
But I'll not forget old Ireland,
Were it fifty times as fair!
And often in those grand old woods
I'll sit, and shut my eyes,
And my heart will travel back again
To the place where Mary lies;
And I'll think I see the little stile
Where we sat side by side,
And the springin' corn, and the bright May morn,
When first you were my bride.
LADY DUFFERIN
THE REVEL
(TIME OF THE FAMINE AND PLAGUE IN INDIA)
W*
E MEET 'neath the sounding rafter,
And the walls around are bare;
As they shout back our peals of laughter,
It seems that the dead are there.
Then stand to your glasses, steady!
We drink in our comrades' eyes :
One cup to the dead already -.
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Not here are the goblets glowing,
Not here is the vintage sweet;
'Tis cold as our hearts are growing,
And dark as the doom we meet.
## p. 16374 (#74) ###########################################
16374
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
But stand to your glasses, steady!
And soon shall our pulses rise:
A cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
There's many a hand that's shaking,
And many a cheek that's sunk;
But soon, though our hearts are breaking,
They'll burn with the wine we've drunk.
Then stand to your glasses, steady!
'Tis here the revival lies:
Quaff a cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Time was when we laughed at others;
We thought we were wiser then:
Ha! ha! let them think of their mothers,
Who hope to see them again.
No! stand to your glasses, steady!
The thoughtless is here, the wise:
One cup to the dead already —
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Not a sigh for the lot that darkles,
Not a tear for the friends that sink;
We'll fall, 'midst the wine-cup's sparkles,
As mute as the wine we drink.
Come, stand to your glasses, steady!
'Tis this that the respite buys:
A cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
There's a mist on the glass congealing,
'Tis the hurricane's sultry breath;
And thus does the warmth of feeling
Turn ice in the grasp of Death.
But stand to your glasses, steady!
For a moment the vapor flies:
Quaff a cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
Who dreads to the dust returning ?
Who shrinks from the sable shore,
Where the high and haughty yearning
Of the soul can sting no more ?
## p. 16375 (#75) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16375
No! stand to your glasses, steady!
The world is a world of lies:
A cup to the dead already -
And hurrah for the next that dies!
Cut off from the land that bore us,
Betrayed by the land we find,
When the brightest have gone before us,
And the dullest are most behind, -
Stand, stand to your glasses, steady!
'Tis all we have left to prize:
One cup to the dead already –
Hurrah for the next that dies!
BARTHOLOMEW DOWLING.
THE OLD CHURCH-YARD OF BONCHURCH
Th*
He church-yard leans to the sea with its dead-
It leans to the sea with its dead so long.
Do they hear, I wonder, the first bird's song,
When the winter's anger is all but fled, -
The high, sweet voice of the west wind,
The fall of the warm, soft rain,
When the second month of the year
Puts heart in the earth again ?
Do they hear, through the glad April weather,
The green grasses waving above them ?
Do they think there are none left to love them,
They have lain for so long there together?
Do they hear the note of the cuckoo,
The cry of gulls on the wing,
The laughter of winds and waters,
The feet of the dancing Spring ?
Do they feel the old land slipping seaward,
The old land, with its hills and its graves,
As they gradually slide to the waves
With the wind blowing on them from leeward ?
Do they know of the change that awaits them,
The sepulchre vast and strange ?
Do they long for days to go over,
And bring that miraculous change?
PHILIP BOURKE MARSTON.
## p. 16376 (#76) ###########################################
16376
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
HIS FOOTSTEPS
TH?
He wilderness a secret keeps
Upon whose guess I go:
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard;
And yet I know, I know,
Some day the viewless latch will lift,
The door of air swing wide
To one lost chamber of the wood
Where those shy mysteries hide, -
One yet unfound, exceeding depth,
From which the wood-thrush sings,
Still luring me to darker shades,
In - in— to colder springs.
There is no wind abroad to-day;
But hark the pine-tops' war,
That sleep, and in their dreams repeat
The music of the shore.
What wisdom stirs among the pines ?
What song is that they sing?
Those airs that search the forest's heart,
What rumor do they bring ?
A hushed excitement fills the gloom,
And in the stillness, clear
The river's tell-tale warning rings:
<< 'Tis near -- 'tis near – 'tis near ! »
As in the fairy tale, more loud
The ghostly music plays,
When, toward the enchanted bower, the prince
Draws closer through the maze.
Nay, nay - I track a fleeter game,
A wilder than ye know,
To lairs beyond the utmost haunt
Of thrush or vireo.
This way it passed: the scent lies fresh;
The ferns still lightly shake.
Ever I follow hard upon,
But never overtake.
HENRY AUGUSTIN BEERS.
## p. 16377 (#77) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16377
THE INDIAN'S DEATH SONG
HE sun sets in night and the stars shun the day,
But glory remains when their light fades away.
Begin, ye tormentors — your threats are in vain,
For the son of Alknomook shall never complain.
T*
Remember the arrows he shot from his bow!
Remember the chiefs whom his hatchet laid low!
Why so slow ? do you think I will shrink from the pain ?
No! the son of Alknomook shall never complain.
Remember the place where in ambush we lay,
And the scalps that we tore from your nation away. -
Now the flame rises fast, you exult in my pain;
But the son of Alknomook shall never complain.
I go to the land where my father has gone:
His ghost shall rejoice at the fame of his son.
Death comes like a friend, to release me from pain;
And thy son, O Alknomook, has scorned to complain.
ANNE HUNTER.
THE PLACE TO DIE
HOW
ow little recks it where men die,
When once the moment's past
In which the dim and glazing eye
Has looked on earth its last;
Whether beneath the sculptured urn
The coffined form shall rest,
Or in its nakedness, return
Back to its mother's breast.
The soldier falls 'mid corses piled
Upon the battle-plain,
Where reinless war-steeds gallop wild
Above the gory slain;
But though his corse be grim to see,
Hoof-trampled on the sod,
What recks it when the spirit free
Has soared aloft to God?
The coward's dying eye may close
Upon his downy bed,
## p.
16378 (#78) ###########################################
16378
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And softest hands his limbs compose,
Or garments o'er him spread;
But ye who shun the bloody fray
Where fall the mangled brave,
Go strip his coffin-lid away,
And see him in his grave!
'Twere sweet indeed to close our eyes
With those we cherish near,
And wafted upward by their sighs,
Soar to some calmer sphere;
But whether on the scaffold high,
Or in the battle's van,
The fittest place where man can die
Is where he dies for man!
MICHAEL JULAND BARRY.
IF I SHOULD DIE TO-NIGHT
Is
F I SHOULD die to-night,
My friends would look upon my quiet face
Before they laid it in its resting-place,
And deem that death had left it almost fair;
And laying snow-white flowers against my hair,
Would smooth it down with tearful tenderness,
And fold my hands with lingering caress
Poor hands, so empty and so cold to-night!
If I should die to-night,
My friends would call to mind, with loving thought,
Some kindly deed the icy hands had wrought;
Some gentle word the frozen lips had said;
Errands on which the willing feet had sped:
The memory of my selfishness and pride,
My hasty words, would all be put aside,
And so I should be loved and mourned to-night.
If I should die to-night,
Even hearts estranged would turn once more to me,
Recalling other days remorsefully;
The eyes that chill me with averted glance
Would look upon me as of yore, perchance,
And soften in the old familiar way:
For who could war with dumb, unconscious clay?
So I might rest, forgiven of all, to-night.
## p. 16379 (#79) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16379
O friends, I pray to-night,
Keep not your kisses for my dead, cold brow!
The way is lonely: let me feel them now.
Think gently of me: I am travel-worn;
My faltering feet are pierced with many a thorn.
Forgive, O hearts estranged, forgive, I plead!
When dreamless rest is mine, I shall not need
The tenderness for which I long to-night.
BELLE E. SMITH.
A LITTLE WHILE
B
EYOND the smiling and the weeping
I shall be soon;
Beyond the waking and the sleeping,
Beyond the sowing and the reaping,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the blooming and the fading
I shall be soon;
Beyond the shining and the shading,
Beyond the hoping and the dreading,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the rising and the setting
I shall be soon;
Beyond the calming and the fretting,
Beyond remembering and forgetting,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the gathering and the strowing
I shall be soon;
Beyond the ebbing and the flowing,
Beyond the coming and the going,
I shall be soon.
## p. 16380 (#80) ###########################################
16380
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the parting and the meeting
I shall be soon;
Beyond the farewell and the greeting,
Beyond this pulse's fever-beating,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
Beyond the frost-chain and the fever
I shall be soon;
Beyond the rock-waste and the river,
Beyond the ever and the never,
I shall be soon.
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come.
HORATIUS BONAR.
WHEN WE ARE ALL ASLEEP
WHEN
HEN He returns, and finds the world so drear,
All sleeping, young and old, unfair and fair,
Will he stoop down and whisper in each ear,
“Awaken! ” or for pity's sake forbear,
Saying, “How shall I meet their frozen stare
Of wonder, and their eyes so full of fear?
How shall I comfort them in their despair,
If they cry out, “Too late! let us sleep here) ? »
Perchance he will not wake us up, but when
He sees us look so happy in our rest,
Will murmur, Poor dead women and dead men!
Dire was their doom, and weary was their quest, -
Wherefore awake them into life again?
Let them sleep on untroubled — it is best. ”
»
ROBERT BUCHANAN.
## p. 16381 (#81) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16381
THE MISTLETOE BOUGH
- The happiest of the happy,
When a spring-lock that lay in ambush there
Fastened her down forever. - Rogers.
T"
HE mistletoe hung in the castle hall,
The holly branch shone on the old oak wall;
And the baron's retainers were blithe and gay,
And keeping their Christmas holiday.
The baron beheld, with a father's pride,
His beautiful child, young Lovell's bride;
While she, with her bright eyes, seemed to be
The star of the goodly company.
I'm weary of dancing now," she cried:
“Here tarry a moment — I'll hide — I'll hide!
And, Lovell, be sure thou'rt first to trace
The clue to my secret lurking-place. ”
Away she ran - and her friends began
Each tower to search, and each nook to scan;
And young Lovell cried, “Oh! where dost thou hide ?
I'm lonely without thee, my own dear bride. "
They sought her that night, and they sought her next
day;
And they sought her in vain, when a week passed away!
In the highest — the lowest — the loneliest spot,
Young Lovell sought wildly — but found her not.
And years flew by, and their grief at last
Was told as a sorrowful tale long past;
And when Lovell appeared, the children cried,
“See! the old man weeps for his fairy bride. ”
At length an oak chest, that had long lain hid,
Was found in the castle: they raised the lid;
And a skeleton form lay moldering there
In the bridal wreath of that lady fair!
Oh, sad was her fate! In sportive jest
She hid from her lord in the old oak chest;
It closed with a spring! -- and, dreadful doom,
The bride lay clasped in her living tomb!
THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY,
## p. 16382 (#82) ###########################################
16382
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
ANDRÉ'S RIDE
W***
"HEN André rode to Pont-du-lac,
With all his raiders at his back,
Mon Dieu! the tumult in the town!
Scarce clanged the great portcullis down
Ere in the sunshine gleamed his spears,
And up marched all his musketeers,
And far and fast in haste's array
Sped men to fight and priests to pray:
In every street a barricade
Of aught that lay to hand was made;
From every house a man was told,
Nor quittance given to young or old:
Should youth be spared or age be slack
When André rode to Pont-du-lac?
When André rode to Pont-du-lac,
With all his ravening reiver-pack,
The mid lake was a frozen road
Unbending to the cannon's load;
No warmth the sun had as it shone;
The kine were stalled, the birds were gone;
Like wild things seemed the shapes of fur
With which was every street astir,
And over all the huddling crowd
The thick breath hung - a solid cloud;
Roof, road, and river, all were white;
Men moved benumbed by day — by night
The boldest durst not bivouac,
When André rode to Pont-du-lac.
When André rode to Pont-du-lac,
We scarce could stem his swift attack;
A halt, a cheer, a bugle-call, -
Like wild-cats they were up the wall:
But still as each man won the town,
We tossed him from the ramparts down;
And when at last the stormers quailed,
And back the assailants shrank assailed,
Like wounded wasps that still could sting,
Or tigers that had missed their spring,
They would not fly, but turned at bay
And fought out all the dying day:
## p. 16383 (#83) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16383
Sweet saints! it was a crimson track
That André left by Pont-du-lac.
When André rode to Pont-du-lac,
Said he, “A troop of girls could sack
This huckster town, that hugs its hoard
But wists not how to wield a sword. ”
It makes my blood warm now to know
How soon Sir Cockerel ceased to crow,
And how 'twas my sure dagger-point
In André's harness found a joint:
For I, who now am old, was young,
And strong the thews were, now unstrung,
And deadly though our danger then,
I would that day were back again;
Ay, would to God the day were back
When André rode to Pont-du-lac!
A. H. BEESLY.
AULD ROBIN GRAY
WEN
HEN the sheep are in the fauld, when the kye's a'at
hame,
And a' the weary warld to rest are gane,
The waes o' my heart fa' in showers frae my e'e,
Unkent by my gudeman, wha sleeps sound by me.
Young Jamie lo'ed me weel, and sought me for his bride,
But saving ae crown-piece he had naething else beside;
To mak' the crown a pound my Jamie gaed to sea,
And the crown and the pound - they were baith for me.
He hadna been gane a twelve month and a day
When my father brake his arm, and the cow was stown away;
My mither she fell sick — my Jamie was at sea -
And Auld Robin Gray came a-courting me.
My father couldna work, my mother couldna spin;
I toiled day and night, but their bread I couldna win:
Auld Rob maintained them baith, and wi' tears in his e'e,
Said, Jeanie, for their sakes, will ye no marry me? ”
My heart it said na, and I looked for Jamie back:
But hard blew the winds, and his ship was a wrack;
## p. 16384 (#84) ###########################################
16384
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
His ship was a wrack – Why didna Jamie dee?
Or why am I spared to cry, Wae is me!
-
My father urged me sair — my mother didna speak,
But she looket in my face till my heart was like to break;
They gied him my hand — my heart was in the sea
And so Robin Gray, he was gudeman to me.
I hadna been his wife a week but only four,
When, mournfu' as I sat on the stane at my door,
I saw my Jamie's ghaist — for I couldna think it he
Till he said, “I'm come hame, love, to marry thee. ”
Oh! sair, sair did we greet, and mickle say of a';
I gi'ed him ae kiss and bade him gang awa'.
I wish that I were dead, but I'ın na like to dee,
For though my heart is broken, I'm but young, wae's me!
I gang like a ghaist, and I carena much to spin ;
I darena think on Jamie, for that would be a sin:
But I'll do my best a gude wife to be,
For oh! Robin Gray he is kind to me.
LADY ANNE BARNARD.
WERENA MY HEART LICHT
T"
HERE was ance a may and she loved na men;
She biggit her bonnie bower down i' yon glen:
But naw she cries Dool! and Well-a-day!
Come down the green gate, and come here away.
When bonnie young Johnnie cam' ower the sea,
He said he saw naething sae lovely as me;
He hecht me baith rings and manie braw things,
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
His wee wilfu' tittie she loved na me;
(I was taller and twice as bonnie as she :)
She raised sic a pother 'twixt him and his mother,
That werena my heart licht I wad dee.
The day it was set for the bridal to be:
The wife took a dwam and lay down to dee:
She mained and she graned wi' fause dolor and pain,
Till he vowed he never wad see ine again.
## p. 16385 (#85) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16385
His kindred socht ane o' higher degree,
Said, Would he wed ane was landless like me ?
Although I was bonnie, I wasna for Johnnie,
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
They said I had neither coo nor cawf,
Nor dribbles o’ drink coming through the draff,
Nor pickles o' meal runnin' frae the mill-e'e,-
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
His tittie she was baith wylie and slee:
She spied me as I came ower the lea;
And then she ran in, and made a loud din;-
Believe your ain een an ye trow na me.
His bonnet stood aye fu' round on his brow;
His old ane looked better than many ane's new:
But now he lets 't wear any gait it will hing,
And casts himsel dowie upon the com-bing.
And now he gaes daundrin' about the dykes,
And a' he dow do is to hound the tykes:
The livelong nicht he ne'er steeks his e'e;
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
Oh! were we young now as we ance hae been,
We should hae been gallopin' down on yon green,
And linkin' it ower the lily-white lea:
And werena my heart licht I wad dee.
LADY GRIZEL BAILLIE
TO NELL GWYNNE'S LOOKING-GLASS
G"
LASS antique, 'twixt thee and Nell
Draw we here a parallel.
She, like thee, was forced to bear
All reflections, foul or fair;
Thou art deep and bright within, -
Depths as bright belonged to Gwynne;
Thou art very frail as well,
Frail as fesh is, – so was Nell.
Thou, her glass, art silver-lined, -
She too had a silver mind!
XXVIII-1025
## p. 16386 (#86) ###########################################
16386
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
Thine is fresh till this far day, -
Hers till death ne'er wore away.
Thou dost to thy surface win
Wandering glances, --so did Gwynne;
Eyes on thee long love to dwell, -
So men's eyes would do on Nell.
Lifelike forms in thee are sought,-
Such the forms the actress wrought;
Truth unfailing rests in you, —
Nell, whate'er she was, was true.
Clear as virtue, dull as sin,
Thou art oft,- as oft was Gwynne;
Breathe on thee, and drops will swell, —
Bright tears dimmed the eyes of Nell.
Thine's a frame to charm the sight,-
Framed was she to give delight.
Waxen forms here truly show
Charles above and Nell below;
But between them, chin with chin,
Stuart stands as low as Gwynne,
Paired, yet parted, - meant to tell
Charles was opposite to Nell.
Round the glass wherein her face
Smiled so soft, her arms” we trace;
Thou, her mirror, hast the pair,-
Lion here, and leopard there.
She had part in these,- akin
To the lion-heart was Gwynne;
And the leopard's beauty fell
With its spots to bounding Nell.
Oft inspected, ne'er seen through,
Thou art firm, if brittle too,-
So her will, on good intent,
Might be broken, never bent.
What the glass was when therein
Beamed the face of glad Nell Gwynne,
Was that face by beauty's spell
To the honest soul of Nell.
S. LAMAN BLANCHARD.
## p. 16387 (#87) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16387
FROM THE CODE TO MALIBRAN)
O
MARIA FELICIA! the painter and bard,
Behind them, in dying, leave undying heirs:
The night of oblivion their memory spares;
And their great, eager souls, other action debarred,
Against death, against time, having valiantly warred,
Though struck down in the strife, claim its trophies as
theirs.
In the iron engraved, one his name leaves enshrined;
With a golden-sweet cadence another's entwined
Makes forever all those who shall hear it his friends.
Though he died, on the canvas lives Raphael's mind;
And from death's darkest doom till this world of ours
ends,
The mother-clasped infant his glory defends.
As the lamp guards the flame, so the bare marble halls
Of the Parthenon hold, in their desolate space,
The memory of Phidias enshrined in their walls.
And Praxiteles's child, the young Venus, yet calls
From the altar, where smiling she still holds her place,
The centuries conquered, to worship her grace.
Thus, from age after age while new light we receive,
To rest at God's feet the old glories are gone;
And the accents of genius their echoes still weave
With the great human voice, till their thoughts are but
one:
And of thee, dead but yesterday, all thy fame leaves
But a cross in the dim chapel's darkness — alone.
A cross, and oblivion, silence, and death!
Hark! the wind's softest sob; hark! the ocean's deep breath;
Hark! the fisher-boy singing his way o'er the plains:
Of thy glory, thy hope, thy young beauty's bright wreath,
Not a trace, not a sigh, not an echo remains.
ALFRED DE MUSSET.
Translation of Frances Kemble Butler.
## p. 16388 (#88) ###########################################
16388
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
THE EARTH AND MAN
A
LITTLE sun, a little rain,
A soft wind blowing from the west
And woods and fields are sweet again,
And warmth within the mountain's breast.
So simple is the earth we tread,
So quick with love and life her frame:
Ten thousand years have dawned and fled,
And still her magic is the same.
A little love, a little trust,
A soft impulse, a sudden dream
And life as dry as desert dust
Is fresher than a mountain stream.
So simple is the heart of man,
So ready for new hope and joy:
Ten thousand years since it began
Have left it younger than a boy.
STOPFORD A. BROOKE.
THE STRANGE COUNTRY
I
HAVE come from a mystical Land of Light
To a Strange Country;
The land I have left is forgotten quite
In the land I see.
The round earth rolls beneath my feet,
And the still stars glow;
The murinuring waters rise and retreat,
The winds come and go.
Sure as a heart-beat all things seem
In this Strange Country;
So sure, so still, in a dazzle of dream,
All things flow free.
'Tis life, all life, be it pleasure or pain,
In the field and the flood,
In the beating heart, in the burning brain,
In the flesh and the blood.
## p. 16389 (#89) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16389
Deep as death is the daily strife
Of this Strange Country:
All things thrill up till they blossom in life,
And flutter and flee.
Nothing is stranger than the rest,
From the Pole to the Pole, -
The weed by the way, the eggs in the nest,
The flesh and the soul.
Look in mine eyes, O man I meet
In this Strange Country!
Lie in my arms, O maiden sweet,
With thy mouth kiss me!
Go by, o king, with thy crowned brow
And thy sceptred hand -
Thou art a straggler too, I vow,
From the same Strange Land.
O wondrous faces that upstart
In this Strange Country! .
O souls, O shades, that become a part
Of my soul and me!
What are ye working so fast and fleet,
( human-kind ?
“We are building cities for those whose feet
Are coming behind;
“Our stay is short; we must fly again
From this Strange Country:
But others are growing, women and men,
Eternally!
Child, what art thou ? and what am I?
But a breaking wave!
Rising and rolling on, we hie
To the shore of the grave.
I have come from a mystical Land of Light
To this Strange Country:
This dawn I came; I shall go to-night,
Ay me! ay me!
I hold my hand to my head, and stand
'Neath the air's blue arc;
## p. 16390 (#90) ###########################################
16390
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
I try to remember the mystical Land,
But all is dark.
And all around me swim shapes like mine
In this Strange Country:
They break in the glamour of gleams divine,
And they moan “Ay me!
Like waves in the cold nioon's silvern breath
They gather and roll;
Each crest of white is a birth or death,
Each sound is a soul.
Oh, whose is the eye that gleams so bright
O'er this Strange Country?
It draws us along with a chain of light,
As the moon the sea!
ROBERT BUCHANAN.
FLOWER OF THE WORLD
HEREVER men sinned and wept,
I wandered in my quest;
At last in a Garden of God
I saw the Flower of the World.
W*
:
This flower had human eyes;
Its breath was the breath of the mouth:
Sunlight and starlight came,
And the flower drank bliss from both.
Whatever was base and unclean,
Whatever was sad and strange,
Was piled around its roots:
It drew its strength from the same.
Whatever was formless and base
Passed into fineness and form;
Whatever was lifeless and mean
Grew into beautiful bloom.
Then I thought, “O Flower of the World,
Miraculous blossom of things,
Light as a faint wreath of snow
Thou tremblest to fall in the wind;
## p. 16391 (#91) ###########################################
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
16391
« O beautiful Flower of the World,
Fall not nor wither away:
He is coming – he cannot be far —
The Lord of the flowers and the stars. "
-
And I cried, “O Spirit divine
That walkest the garden unseen!
Come hither, and bless, ere it dies,
The beautiful Flower of the World. ”
>>
ROBERT BUCHANAN.
LOVE STILL HATH SOMETHING
LOVA
OVE still hath something of the sea
From whence his mother rose;
No time his slaves from love can free,
Nor give their thoughts repose.
They are becalmed in clearest days,
And in rough weather tossed;
They wither under cold delays,
Or are in tempests lost.
One while they seem to touch the port;
Then straight into the main
Some angry wind, in cruel sport,
The vessel drives again.
At first disdain and pride they fear,
Which if they chance to 'scape,
Rivals and falsehood soon appear
In a more dreadful shape.
By such degrees to joy they come,
And are so long withstood;
So slowly they receive the sum,
It hardly does them good.
'Tis cruel to prolong a pain;
And to defer a bliss,
Believe me, gentle Hermione,
No less inhuman is.
A hundred thousand foes your fears
Perhaps would not remove;
## p. 16392 (#92) ###########################################
16392
SONGS HYMNS AND LYRICS
And if I gazed a thousand years,
I could no deeper love.
'Tis fitter much for you to guess
Than for me to explain;
But grant, oh! grant that happiness
Which only does remain.
SIR CHARLES SEDLEY.
HORIZONS
M'
Y HEART gives thanks for yonder hill,
That makes this valley safe and still;
That shuts from sight my onward way
And sets a limit to my day;
That keeps my thoughts, so tired and weak,
From seeking what they should not seek.
On that fair bound across the west
My eyes find pasturage and rest,
And of its dewy stillness drink,
As do the stars upon its brink;
It shields me from the days to come,
And makes the present hour my home.
Deeper will be my rest to-night
For this near calmness of the height;
Its steadfast boundary will keep
My harbored spirit while I sleep.
Yet somewhere on its wooded sides
To-morrow's onward pathway hides,
And I shall wake at early morn,
To find a world beyond, new-born.
I thank thee, Lord, that thou dost lay
These near horizons on my way.
