 | Areytos or songs and ballads of the South |  |
231
COME OUT TO PLAY!
I.
Give thyself freedom to-night!Hence with the cares of the day;
And dreaming alone of thy boyhood's delight,
Bid the young heart come and play!
Oh! for that precious child ditty,
The sweetest that bard ever sung,
That summon'd to sports of the highway and city,
The hearts that knew how to be young!
And still, methinks, they say,
As in that happy day:
“Come, boys and girls, come out—come out and play!”
And oh! the sweet assurance in the lay—
“The moon—the moon is shining bright as day!”
II.
Even with the memory I seeThe lakelet, the hillock, the vale,
The green-sward, the old oak tree,
And the round moon, bright and pale.
And ho! for the shouting and leaping,
Headlong, o'er hillock and plain;
As if boyhood knew nothing of weeping,
And play-day must ever remain!
Oh, girls and boys, away!
Renew the ancient lay!
Come out, as then, come out—come out to play!
Fling not the innocent joys of youth away,
The moon still shines for youth, as bright as day.
| Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | |