Poems and Songs :: :: University of Virginia Library

Oh, the summer's sweet when lovers meet,
And posies kiss the rover's feet;
When soaring larks salute the day,
And milkmaids through the meadows stray.
Then raise the song,
And chant it well,
As we jog it along
O'er hill and dell;
For what'll betide no man can tell!

II

With lingering feet we'll lounge along
Where hawthorn blooms the hedges throng;
And through the rustling greenwood stray,
Where straggling sunbeams streak the way.
Then raise the song,
And chant it well,
As we jog it along
O'er hill and dell;
For what'll betide us who can tell?

III

By sweet sequestered nooks we'll fare,
Where dewy bluebells scent the air;
And watch the squirrel's airy bounds,
While the throstle's song the wood resounds.
Then raise the song,
And chant it well,
As we jog it along
O'er hill and dell;
For what'll betide us who can tell?

IV

In scented meadows we'll delay
To tumble in the new-mown hay,
While the mower whets his scythe and sings
Of country fun and wedding-rings.
Then raise the song,
And chant it well,
As we jog it along
O'er hill and dell;
For what'll betide us who can tell?

V

On banks of wild thyme we will play,
Where cowslip's nod to the brooklet's lay;
Where the limpid stream meanders bright,
With glittering glee in the golden light:

Then raise the song,
And chant it well,
As we jog it along
O'er hill and dell;
For what'll betide us who can tell?

VI

And should some bonny lass catch my e'e,
I'll let her go if she's not for me;
And merrily on I'll rove alone,
For all will be well when I meet my own.
Then raise the song,
And chant it well,
As we jog it along
O'er hill and dell;
For what'll betide us who can tell?