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Poems, partly of rural life, (in national English.)

By William Barnes
Barnes, William (1801-1886)
  
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ERWIN AND LINDA.
  
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MRS. FANNY'S TALE.
  
MR. JOHN'S TALE.
  
MR. ROBERT'S TALE.
  
LUCY LEE.
  
MRS. MARY'S TALE.
  
MRS. ANNE'S TALE.
  
MR. WILLIAM'S TALE.
  
MISS JANE'S TALE.
  
ERWIN'S SONG.
  
CONCLUSION.
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MISCELLANEOUS PIECES.
 I. 
SONNET I. RURAL NATURE.
 II. 
SONNET II. RURAL NATURE.
  
NATURE.
 III. 
SONNET III. TO THE WIND.
 IV. 
SONNET IV. TO THE MOON.
  
EASTER BELLS.
  
THE BIRD-BOY'S DINNER TOKEN.
  
RUSTIC CHILDHOOD.
  
THE WOODLAND HOME.
 V. 
SONNET V. LEAVES.
 VI. 
SONNET VI. RURAL SECLUSION.
 VII. 
SONNET VII. EVENING DREAMS.
 VIII. 
SONNET VIII. A SUMMER NIGHT.
  
JANE OF BUCKLEY-HILL.
 IX. 
SONNET IX. MOURNING.
  
WOODCOMBE WAKE.
  
THE “HOME-GROUND.”
  
THE ELM IN HOME-GROUND.
 X. 
SONNET X. THE WITHERED TREE.
  
THE NIGHT-AIR.
 XI. 
SONNET XI.
  
WHITBURN'S GREEN AND WHITE.
  
MOONLIGHT.
  
“HOW SWEET'S THE LOVE THAT MEETS RETURN.”
  
DAY DREAMS.
  
THE EEGRASS.
  
THE LANE.
  
AUTUMN.
  
A WINTER NIGHT.
  
THE HOLLY TREE.
  
MOSS.
 XII. 
SONNET XII. TO DEAD FRIENDS.
 XIII. 
SONNET XIII. HAPPY DREAMS.
  
BURNCOMBE HOLLOW.
  
THE MAID THAT I HAVE WON.
 XIV. 
SONNET XIV. THE STORM.
  
MARY COMES NOT TO THE TREE.
  
THE BONNET IN THE WATER.
  
ROSE OF FARRANCOOMBE.
  
MEMORY'S STORES.
 XV. 
SONNET XV. TO MY MOTHER'S SPIRIT.
  
OLD FASHIONS.
 XVI. 
SONNET XVI. ON SEEING SOME VERY OLD FAMILY PORTRAITS IN AN ANCIENT MANSION.
 XVII. 
SONNET XVII. THE DESERTED MANSION.
 XVIII. 
SONNET XVIII. GRECIAN MAIDS.
 XIX. 
SONNET XIX. TO SCENES OF IMAGINATION.
 XX. 
SONNET XX. TO PEACE.
 XXI. 
SONNET XXI. A GARDEN.
 XXII. 
SONNET XXII. TO A GARDEN.—ON LEAVING IT.
 XXIII. 
SONNET XXIII. TO AMANDA.
 XXIV. 
SONNET XXIV.
 XXV. 
SONNET XXV. THE PAST.
 XXVI. 
SONNET XXVI. THE FUTURE.
 XXVII. 
SONNET XXVII. HUMAN LIFE.
 XXVIII. 
SONNET XXVIII. TO A LOST CHILD.
 XXIX. 
SONNET XXIX. THE TRIAL.
  
THE TRIAL PAST.
  
LEARNING.
 XXX. 
SONNET XXX. TO THE HON. MRS. NORTON, THE POETESS, ON MEETING HER AT FRAMPTON HOUSE.
  
ATHELHAMTON HOUSE.
 XXXI. 
SONNET XXXI. ARCHITECTURE.
  
THE HINES OF BURNLEY.
  
HALLOWED NAMES.

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6

MR. ROBERT'S TALE.

Why, Mr. Wanhope that is lately dead,
Liv'd then below this roof that's overhead;
And lived here till his death—it was his own—
A single life, retired and little known.
And some folk thought, what others could not find,
That he was sometimes flighty in his mind;
Lost in the love of one he could not win,
Some ne'er-forgotten maid of high-born kin:
For till the last, whene'er his mem'ry brought
The young man's idol to the old man's thought,
He roam'd bewilder'd out by field and lane,
Forlorn in wordless thought like one insane;
And when he died some others' hands set free
From trusty wardship of a lock and key,
A writing of his youth, that show'd in part
The ne'er-forgotten sorrows of his heart.
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