Cuckoo ! Cuckoo! he sings again—his notes are void of art; But simplest strains do soonest sound the deep founts of the heart. Good Lord! it is a gracious boon for thought-crazed wight like me, To smell again these summer flowers beneath this summer tree! To suck once more in every breath their little souls away, And feed my fancy with fond dreams of youth's bright summer day, When, rushing forth like untamed colt, the reckless, truant boy, Wandered through greenwoods all day long, a mighty heart of joy! I'm sadder now-I have had cause; but oh! I'm proud to think That each pure joy-fount, loved of yore, I yet delight to drink; Leaf, blossom, blade, hill, valley, stream, the calm, unclouded sky, Still mingle music with my dreams, as in the days gone THE GARDEN BOUGH. 55 UNWATCHED the garden bough shall sway, Unloved the sunflower, shining fair, Ray round with flames her disk of seed, Unloved by many a sandy bar, The brook shall babble down the plain, Is twisting round the polar star; Uncared for, gird the windy grove, And flood the haunts of hern and crake; Or into silvery arrows break The sailing moon in creek and cove; Till from the garden and the wild A fresh association blow, And year by year the landscape grow Familiar to the stranger's child; As year by year the laborer tills fades His wonted glebe, or lops the glades; Alfred Tennyson. THE PRAISE OF A COUNTRYMAN'S LIFE. Он, the sweet contentment Heigh trolollie, lollie, lol, heigh trolollie, lee; Possesseth all my mind; Then, care away, and wend along with me. For courts are full of flattery, Heigh trolollie, lollie, lol, heigh trolollie, lee; And both are full of pride; Then, care away, and wend along with me. But, oh! the honest countryman Heigh trolollie, lollie, lol, heigh trolollie, lee; His pride is in his tillage, His horses, and his cart; Then, care away, and wend along with me. Our clothing is good sheepskins, Heigh trolollie, lollie, lol, heigh trolollie, lee; 'Tis warmth, and not gay clothing, That doth prolong our lives; Then, care away, and wend along with me. PRAISE OF A COUNTRYMAN'S LIFE. The ploughman, though he labor hard, Heigh trolollie, lollie, lol, heigh trolollie, lee; Does pass his time away; Then, care away, and wend along with me. To recompense our tillage, The heavens afford us showers, The earth affords us bowers; Then, care away, and wend along with me. The cuckoo and the nightingale Heigh trolollie, lollie, lol, heigh trolollie, lee; Do welcome in the spring; Then, care away, and wend along with me. This is not half the happiness The countryman enjoys; Heigh trolollie, lollie, lol, heigh trolollie, lee; Then, care away, and come along with me. John Chalkhill. 57 THE WILD CHERRY-TREE. OH, there never was yet so fair a thing, Nothing that ever so gayly grew Up from the ground when the skies were blue, Nothing so brave, nothing so free, As thou, my wild, wild Cherry-tree! Jove! how it danced in the gusty breeze! Never at rest, like one that's young, Whilst I stole up for its berries red. Back I fly to the days gone by, And I shout like the tempest, loud and free, Barry Coricall. |