The later poems of John Clare :: :: University of Virginia Library

The later poems of John Clare

1837-1864 ... General editor Eric Robinson: Edited by Eric Robinson and David Powell: Associate editor Margaret Grainger

Clare, John (1793-1864)

Volume I

Poems written at High Beach, Epping, 1837–1841, and at Northborough, 1841

Poems written in Northampton Asylum, 1842–1864

II.

Volume II

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I. Volume I

Poems written at High Beach, Epping, 1837–1841, and at Northborough, 1841

NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 27

SONG

[By A Cottage Near A Wood]

By A Cottage Near A Wood
Where The Small Birds Build & Sing
In My Dreaming Hours I've Stood
To Review The Lovely Spring
There Once Dwelt A Lovely Maiden
Whose Name I Sought In Vain
Some Called Her Lovely Lucey
& Others Honest Jane

Bye That Cottage Near A Wood
I Have Often Stood Alone
In A Sad Or Happy Mood
& Wished She Was My Own
The Small Birds Flitted Round Me
But Nature Pleased in Vain
For The Dark & Lovely Maiden
I Never Saw Again

Bye The Cottage Near The Wood
I Wished With Peace To Be
& The Blossoms Where She Stood
They Were More Then Gems To Me
More Fair Or Sweeter Blossoms
My Rambles Sought In Vain
& The Dark & Lovely Maiden
I Never Found Again

Bye That Cottage Near A Wood
The Childern Held Her Gown
& On The Turf Before It
Ran Laughing Up & Down
They Played Around Her Beauty
While I Sought Joys In Vain
But The Dark Haired Lovely Maiden
I Ne'er Could Find Again

Bye That Cottage Near A Wood
Where The Childern Used To Play
Spring Has Often Burst The Bud
& As Often Passed Away
But My Spring Joys Will Ne'er Return
Nought Can Their Shade Restore
Though She Left Her Image In My Heart
& I Love Her Evermore

Bye That Cottage Near A Wood
Though The Summer Flowers Appear
They Charm Not Me—& Where She Stood
Tis Winter All The Year
They Charm Me Not Now Loves Away
& Beauty Blooms In Vain
For The Dark & Lovely Maiden
I Never Found Again

[_]

Martin's version:

‘By a cottage near the wood
Where lark and thrushes sing,
In dreaming hours I stood,
Through summer and through spring:
There dwells a lovely maiden
Whose name I sought in vain—
Some call her pretty Lucy,
And others honest Jane.

By that cottage near a wood
I often stood alone
In sad or happy mood,
And wished she was my own.
The birds kept sweetly singing,
But nature pleased in vain;
For the dark and lovely maiden
I never saw again.

By the cottage near the wood
I wished in peace to be:
The blossoms where she stood
Were more than gems to me.

More fair or sweeter blossoms
My rambles sought in vain;
But the dark and lovely maiden
I never found again.

By that cottage near a wood
The children held her gown,
And on the turf before her
Ran laughing up and down.
They played around her beauty,
While I sought joys in vain;
She fled—the lovely maiden
I could not find again.

By that cottage near the wood,
Where children used to play,
Spring often burst the bud,
And as often passed away.
And with them passed my visions
Of her whom I adore;
For the dark and lovely maiden,
I love her evermore.’

OVERLAND MONTHLY

THE PANSY

It does me good, thou flower of spring,
Thy blossoms to behold;
Thou bloom'st when birds begin to sing,
In purple and in gold.

Along the garden-beds so neat
Thy flowers their blooms display,
When sparrows chirp and lambkins bleat
And hopes look up for May.

Then Emma thinks the heart's-ease blooms
When she the pansy sees;
But I see sleep among the tombs,
With heart that's ill at ease,

That asks for what it's lost and loved—
A quiet home and friends,
Where nature's feelings were approved
And peace made life amends;

Where love was all I had to sing,
And there these pansy flowers
Came shining in the dews of spring
To cheer the sunny hours.

But years may pass, as they have passed,
And I may hope in vain,
With hopes that linger to the last,
To see them bloom again.

The fairest flower that ever bloomed,
Or garden ever blest,
Looks cold to care, and ne'er was doomed
To ease the heart's unrest.

The heart's-ease in her happy hour
Might Emma's fancy please,
But life will often pluck the flower
And feel but ill at ease.

SONG ON TOBACCO

Some sing about love in their season of roses,
But love has in sorrow no blossoms to wear;
So I'll sing tobacco, that cheers and composes,
And lulls us asleep in our trouble and care.
So here's to tobacco, the Indian weed,
The peaceful companion through trouble and strife;
May it prove every smoker's best friend in his need,
And be to his heart a restorer through life.

There's the husbandman hourly tormented with care,
By his daily companion, a troublesome wife;
But a pipe of tobacco will soothe his despair,
And bring him sunshine in the shadows of life.
Then here's to tobacco, the Indian weed,
May it bless honest smokers with peace to the end,
For such a companion is friendship indeed,
Since it proves in the midst of all trouble a friend.

The statesman, the lawyer, the parson will find,
When business oppresses and sorrow grows ripe,
To steer clear of follies and strengthen the mind,
There's nothing like leisure and smoking a pipe.
So here's to that cheering tobacco once more;
May each honest smoker prove blest with the weed,
May it mend broken hopes and lost pleasures restore,
And always prove dear as a friend in his need.

[Beautiful woman, visions dwell]

Beautiful woman, visions dwell
Of heaven's joy about thee,
And every step I take is hell
That walks thro' life without thee.

[When with our little ones we spent]

When with our little ones we spent
Each Sunday after tea,
And up the wood's dark side we went
Or pasture's rushy lea,
To look among the woodland boughs
To find the bird's retreat,
Or crop the cowslip for the cows;
[OMITTED]

Then sat to rest the little feet
In many a pleasant place,
And see the lambs, who tried to bleat,
Come first in every race,
Then laugh'd the children's joys to view,
Who ran across the lea
At birds that from the rushes flew,
And many a wandering bee.

[You promised me, a year ago]

COLIN
You promised me, a year ago,
When autumn bleach'd the mistletoe,
That you and I should be as one;
But now another autumn's gone—
Its solemn knell is in the blast,
And love's bright sun is overcast;
Yet flowers will bloom and birds will sing,
And e'en the winter claim the spring.

LUCY
The hedges will be green again,
And flowers will come on hill and plain;
And though we meet a rainy day,
The hawthorn will be white with May.
If love and nature still agree,
Green leaves will clothe the trysting-tree;
And when these pleasing days you view,
Think Lucy's heart yet be true.

[Sweeter than roses was the face]

Sweeter than roses was the face
For whom I pluck'd the flower;
Sweeter than heaven was the place
In that delightful hour.

[Tis autumn now & harvests reign]

Tis autumn now & harvests reign
Brown swelling hills & hollow vales
The sudden shower sweeps oer the plain
& health breaths in the shivering gales
The coveys rise—the sportsman joys
& in the stubbles bleeding fall
The hunters face glows in the chase
He loves to hear the bugle call
That loud through wood & dingle rings
As oer the fence the courser springs

The songs of home in every field
From merry harvesters is heard
The hare as yet from harm will shield
Where barley waves its tawney beard
Some sing & blink oer kegs of drink

& love the drunkards brawls to own—
I love to dream by valleys stream
& live with quiet peace alone
The brook & wood the vale & tree
Are the green homes of joy to me

Some love to drink adieu to care
I love the solitude of rest
Some meet with woman false & fair
& think it joy to be distrest
The hazle nook the mossy brook
I love from feelings of the boy
The broad topt oak the ravens croak
& all of nature brings me joy
There solitude of sun & shade
A paradise on earth hath made

& yet the love of woman still
Hath been my sunshine all along
Her voice along the upland hill
Was music in my early song
Her love confest is still the best
To comfort every care & thrall
In poesys page her heritage
Reigns still the empress over all
Theres not a land where life hath been
But looks on woman as its queen

[I long to forget them—the love of my life—]

I long to forget them—the love of my life—
To forget them, and keep this lorn being my own;
The honey is cell'd in such changeable strife,
I long to keep sorrow and trouble my own—
To live in myself, and to be what I am,
And to leave earth's delusions and shadows behind,
Where love may not cheat, nor its happiness damn:
The shadows of hope I with nature may find.

O, bear me away from this changeable strife,
To the childhood of nature, the linnet and bee!
Let her flowers be my children, her freedom my wife,
Where God, my Creator, is constant and free.
The flower on the white bush, the nest in the ground,
Which my own happy childhood once shouted to find;
Let me live in those scenes, with the wind blowing round,
And I shall be happy to bear it in mind,

To think of the joys of that once-happy spot
Where I lived with my children the whole summer long—
The mother, the garden, the books and the cot,
The theme and affection of many a song.
The snowdrop and crocus are first in the year,
And there the tall foxglove its red-freckled bell
To the summer and bee was delicious and dear;
And down in the homestead, the pond and the dell

Would hide me an hour in its hazel so green,
While the world and its troubles kept far, far away;
And there silent solitude kept me unseen,
With love-ties around me the whole of the day.
And there was the robin, perch'd on the ash tree,
Would sing me a tune, and then drop for a worm;
And there the coy thrush my companion would be,
While the hazel-bush sheltered my seat from a storm.

And there came the linnet, with wool in its bill,
To build its new nest in the hedge or the thorn;
And there I could see the black sails of the mill,
And the spire in the gray, sleeping light of the morn.
And there came the heavy-wing'd kite o'er the lea,
And the old hens they call'd for their chickens aloud;
And there the black crow came and perch'd on the tree,
And the lark hid itself in the black-bosom'd cloud.

O, bear me away from this tumult and strife
Where woman or falsehood is not to be found—
To the scenes which I loved in the childhood of life,
In the fields which the thorn-hedges sheltered around;
Where trees without order in spinney clumps stand,
And in corners the aged or the whattled sheep pen;
O bear me to those dearest spots in the land,
And the peace of my lowly thatch'd cottage again!

ENGLISH JOURNAL

TO THE NIGHTINGALE

I LOVE to hear the Nightingale—
She comes where Summer dwells—
Among the brakes and orchis flowers,
And foxglove's freckled bells.

Where mugwort grows like mignonette,
And molehills swarm with ling;
She hides among the greener May,
And sings her love to Spring.

I hear her in the Forest Beach,
When beautiful and new;
Where cow-boys hunt the glossy leaf,
Where falls the honey-dew.

Where brambles keep the waters cool
For half the Summer long;
The maiden sets her pitcher down,
And stops to hear the song.

The redcap is a painted bird,
And sings about the town;
The Nightingale sings all the eve,
In sober suit of brown.

I knew the sparrow could not sing;
And heard the stranger long:
I could not think so plain a bird
Could sing so fine a song.

I found her nest of oaken leaves,
And eggs of paler brown,
Where none would ever look for nests,
Or pull the sedges down.

I found them on a whitethorn root,
And in the woodland hedge,
All in a low and stumpy bush,
Half hid among the sedge.

I love the Poet of the Woods,
And love to hear her sing,—
That, with the cuckoo, brings the love
And music of the Spring.

Man goes by art to foreign lands,
With shipwreck and decay;
Birds go with Nature for their guide,
And GOD directs their way—

GOD of a thousand worlds on high!—
Proud men may lord and dare;
POWER tells them that the meaner things
Are worthy of HIS care.

[MAID of Walkherd, meet again]

MAID of Walkherd, meet again,
By the wilding in the glen;
By the oak against the door,
Where we often met before.
By thy bosom's heaving snow,
By thy fondness none shall know;
Maid of Walkherd, meet again,
By the wilding in the glen.

By thy hand of slender make,
By thy love I'll ne'er forsake,
By thy heart I'll ne'er betray,
Let me kiss thy fears away!
I will live and love thee ever,
Leave thee and forsake thee never!
Though far in other lands to be,
Yet never far from love and thee.

SIGHING FOR RETIREMENT

O TAKE me from the busy crowd,
I cannot bear the noise!
For Nature's voice is never loud;
I seek for quiet joys.

The book I love is everywhere,
And not in idle words;
The book I love is known to all,
And better lore affords.

The book I love is everywhere,
And every place the same;
GOD bade me make my dwelling there,
And look for better fame.

I never feared the critic's pen,
To live by my renown;
I found the poems in the fields,
And only wrote them down.

And quiet Epping pleases well,
Where Nature's love delays;
I joy to see the quiet place,
And wait for better days.

I love to seek the brakes and fern,
And rabbits up and down;
And then the pleasant Autumn comes,
And turns them all to brown.

To common eyes they only seem
A desert waste and drear;
To taste and love they always shine,
A garden through the year.

LORD keep my love for quiet joys,
Oh, keep me to thy will!
I know THY works, and always find
THY mercies kinder still!

THE FOREST MAID

I love to see the forest maid
Go in the pleasant day,
And jump to break an idle bough,
To drive the flies away.

Her face is brown with open air,
And like the lily blooming;
But beauty, whether brown or fair,
Is always found with women!

She stoop'd to tie her pattens up,
And show'd a cleanly stocking;
The flowers made curtsies all the way,
Against her ancles knocking.

She stoop'd to get the foxglove bells
That grew among the bushes,
And, careless, set her basket down,
And tied them up with rushes.

Her face was ever in a smile,
And brown, and softly blooming;—
I often met the scorn of man,
But welcome lives with woman!

ON THE NEGLECT OF TRUE MERIT

FASHION and Folly always follow Fame,
Which Merit, slowly paced, is slow to claim.
The gaudy and the mean men love to praise,
But quiet Merit lives for other days.
There's pleasant CRUIKSHANK, hearty RIPPINGILLE,
And quiet HILTON, of diviner skill;
There's simple ETTY, never vain or proud,
Are left as common men among the crowd:

But Fame keeps watch and looks for other days,
And Merit claims for them diviner praise;
The others left behind have nought to claim,
And Merit wonders how they got to Fame;
For Merit still will live above the mean,
And CRUIKSHANK is what HOGARTH would have been.

THE SEQUEL TO JOHN BARLEYCORN

WHEN saucy Ale and I were young,
I told him to his face,
I'd put the tyrant in a song,
And bring him to disgrace.

But he would always give the lie,
And always bade me note;
He'd ever keep my pocket dry,
And leave me scarce a groat.

And when I blew his froth away,
He vowed he'd make me rue;
I tried to beat him every year,
But sure he said the true.

The coat had scarce a bit to own,
The hat was bare and brown,
All torn and open at the top,
Like pot-lid hanging down.

The maiden laughed, and well she might,
To see me brought so low;
And when I could not bear my plight,
I scarce had leg to go.

And when I gave him all I had,
He served me all the worse;
I lacked the friend who then might say—
‘Keep something in your purse.’

The scarecrow had a better hat,
Which cost but half a-crown;
And when I looked for Beauty's smile,
I only got her frown.

She turned her nose up at the coat,
With ‘Go, you drunkard, go!’
I found, while Ale was still a friend,
In each beside a foe.

He often bade me string my purse,
I tried to bear the jest;
I got a wife, I could not spend,
And bade him do his best.

He laughed at all the books I got
To while the night along;
He called them all but silly stuff,
And lit his pipe with song!

I waited like the trampled grass,
That might look up in spring;
I tried and got a better coat:
Now let him laugh and sing!

He ground me on, he kept me down,
And made me no amends;
I tried, and found the sober truth,
That robbers are no friends!

A WALK IN THE FOREST

I LOVE the Forest and its airy bounds,
Where friendly CAMPBELL takes his daily rounds;
I love the break neck hills, that headlong go,
And leave me high, and half the world below;
I love to see the Beach Hill mounting high,
The brook without a bridge, and nearly dry.
There's Bucket's Hill, a place of furze and clouds,
Which evening in a golden blaze enshrouds:
I hear the cows go home with tinkling bell,
And see the woodman in the forest dwell,
Whose dog runs eager where the rabbit's gone;
He eats the grass, then kicks and hurries on;
Then scrapes for hoarded bone, and tries to play,
And barks at larger dogs and runs away.

TO WORDSWORTH

WORDSWORTH I love; his books are like the fields,
Not filled with flowers, but works of human kind;
The pleasant weed a fragrant pleasure yields,
The briar and broomwood shaken by the wind,
The thorn and bramble o'er the water shoot
A finer flower than gardens e'er give birth,
The aged huntsman grubbing up the root—
I love them all as tenants of the earth:
Where genius is, there often die the seeds;
What critics throw away I love the more;
I love to stoop and look among the weeds,
To find a flower I never knew before:
WORDSWORTH go on—a greater poet be,
Merit will live, though parties disagree!

THE WATER LILIES

THE Water Lilies, white and yellow flowers,
How beautiful they are upon the lake!
I've stood and looked upon the place for hours,
And thought how fine a garden they would make.

The pleasant leaves upon the water float;
The dragon-fly would come and stay for hours,
And when the water pushed the pleasure boat,
Would find a safer place among the flowers:
They lay like Pleasure in a quiet place,
Close where the moor-hen loved her nest to make,—
They lay like beauty with a smiling face,
And I have called them ‘Ladies of the Lake!’
I've brought the longest pole and stood for hours,
And tried for years, before I got those flowers!

THE FRIGHTENED PLOUGHMAN

I WENT in the fields with the leisure I got,
The stranger might smile, but I heeded him not;
The hovel was ready to screen from a shower,
And the book in my pocket was read in an hour.

The bird came for shelter, but soon flew away;
The horse came to look, and seemed happy to stay;
He stood up in quiet, and hung down his head,
And seemed to be hearing the poem I read.

The ploughman would turn from his plough in the day,
And wonder what being had come in his way,
To lie on a molehill, and read the day long,
And laugh out aloud when he finished his song.

The peewit turned over and stooped o'er my head,
Where the raven croaked loud, like the ploughman ill-bred,
But the lark high above charmed me all the day long,
So I sat down and joined in the chorus of song.

The foolhardy ploughman I well could endure,
His praise was worth nothing, his censure was poor;
Fame bade me go on, and I toiled the day long,
Till the fields where he lived should be known in my song.

A WALK ON HIGH BEACH, LOUGHTON

I LOVED the Forest walks and beechen woods,
Where pleasant STOCKDALE showed me far away
Wild Enfield Chase, and pleasant Edmonton;
While Giant London, known to all the world,
Was nothing but a guess among the trees,
Though only half a day from where we stood.
Such is ambition! only great at home,
And hardly known to quiet and repose.
I loved the Forest walk, and often stood
To hear boys halloo to their wilder sheep;
While quiet TURNER sat upon a hill,
And gentle HOWARD cut his sticks and sang.
The Sticker trailed her faggot on the ground,
And all the Forest seemed to live with joy.

LONDON VERSUS EPPING FOREST

THE brakes, like young stag's horns, come up in Spring,
And hide the rabbit holes and fox's den;
They crowd about the forest everywhere;
The ling and holly-bush, and woods of beach,
With room enough to walk and search for flowers;
Then look away and see the Kentish heights.
Nature is lofty in her better mood,
She leaves the world and greatness all behind;
Thus London, like a shrub among the hills,
Lies hid and lower than the bushes here.
I could not bear to see the tearing plough
Root up and steal the Forest from the poor,
But leave to freedom all she loves, untamed,
The Forest walk enjoyed and loved by all!

GREATNESS OF MIND

GREAT men are always kind, however rare,
And more like common men than others are;
The poor man saw the King and wondered on,
To find him only like his neighbour JOHN:

Greatness will live with Kindness everywhere;
The sun shines brighter when the days are clear;
Time mellows fruit, and suns bring on the flowers,
And Greatness lives with Kindness in all hours:
Fame makes them giants with her idle praise,
Though common men at home, like common days:
But Pride is ever low, and will deride;
It nothing knows, for Ignorance is Pride.
Pride would be great, but Folly laughs aloud,
And Pride sinks down to nothing in the crowd.

THE GIPSY CAMP

THE snow falls deep; the Forest lies alone:
The boy goes hasty for his load of brakes,
Then thinks upon the fire and hurries back;
The Gipsy knocks his hands and tucks them up,
And seeks his squalid camp, half hid in snow,
Beneath the oak, which breaks away the wind,
And bushes close, with snow like hovel warm:
There stinking mutton roasts upon the coals,
And the half-roasted dog squats close and rubs,
Then feels the heat too strong and goes aloof;
He watches well, but none a bit can spare,
And vainly waits the morsel thrown away:
'Tis thus they live—a picture to the place;
A quiet, pilfering, unprotected race.

THE TRUE SPIRITUAL WORSHIP

GOD lives alone in quiet thoughts,
And not in empty fears;
The idle rave and noise aloud—
GOD never interferes.

The Prophet heard the noisy storm—
The quiet ne'er despair—
The Prophet heard the thunder loud,
But GOD was never there.

The Prophet heard the still, small voice,
The way but seldom trod;
The Prophet lifted up his eyes,
And knew the voice of GOD!

Men lay the rage of men to GOD;
He hears the feeble call;
GOD heeds; HIS is the kindest love,
To be the friend of all!

LOVE AND BEAUTY

WHEN Beauty fills the lover's eyes,
And lives like doubtful weather,
Her bosom seems to sleep with love;
They lie like birds together.

Love finds them angels ready made,
So beautiful and blooming;
But Time comes in, though half afraid,
And rudely calls them woman.

Time, like a robber, every year
Takes all the fame he gives;
While Beauty only goes away,
And Virtue only lives.

THE COURTSHIP

Where are you going lovely maid
The morning fine & early
Im going to Walkerd Sir she said
& made accross the barley

Her neck a thumb & finger span
Her bosom swelling over
Her waist was half the vulgar kind
An armful for a lover

I asked her name she blushed away
The question seemed to burn her
A neighbour came & passed the day
& called her Patty Turner

She led me on a pleasant way
Through fields when brown & fallow
Dear Walkerd lay upon the hill
& Stamford in the hollow

I see the oak agen the door
The wood agen the garden
I bade good bye she turned agen
With smiles my look rewarding

I wrote my better poems there
To beautys praise I owe it
The muses they get all the praise
But woman makes the poet

A womans is the dearest love
Theres nought on earth sincerer
The leisure upon beautys breast
Can any thing be dearer

The muses they are living things
& beauty ever dear
& though I worshiped stocks & stones
Twas woman every where

In loves delight my steps was led
I sung of beautys choice
I saw her in the books I read
& all was Mary Joyce

I saw her love in beautys face
I saw her in the rose
I saw her in the fairest flowers
In every weed that grows

Till Patty fell in beautys way
That dearer loves recall
& stood a flower in beautys way
The lily of them all

THE COWSLIPS

THE dancing Cowslips come in pleasant hours;
Though seldom sung, they're everybody's flowers:
They hurry from the world, and leave the cold;
And all the meadows turn from green to gold:
The shepherd finds them where he went to play,
And wears a nosegay in his mouth all day:
The maiden finds them in the pleasant grove,
And puts them in her bosom with her love;
She loves the ladysmocks: and just beyond
The water blobs close to the meadow-pond.
I've often gone—about where blackthorns stood—
And got the Bedlam-Cowslips in the wood;
Then found the blackbird's nest, and noisy jay
And up and threw the Cowslips all away!

THE MOCK BIRD

I'VE often tried, when tending sheep and cow,
With bits of grass and peels of oaten straw,
To whistle like the birds. The thrush would start
To hear her song, and pause, and fly away;
The blackbird never cared, but sang again;
The nightingale's fine song I could not try;
And when the thrush would mock her song, she paused,
And sang another song no bird could do!
She sang when all were done, and beat them all.
I've often sat and mocked them half the day,
Behind the hedge-row, thorn, or bullace tree:
I thought how nobly I could act in crowds.
The woods and fields were all the books I knew,
And every leisure thought was Love and Fame.

THE BOTANIST'S WALK

THE Forest meets the blessings of the Spring;
The chestnut throws her sticky buds away,
And shows her pleasant leaves and snow-white flowers;
The nightingale is loud, and often heard
The notes of every song, and hardly known,
She hides and sings, a stranger all the day;

The spurge, with caper-flowers of yellow green—
And called ‘wild capers’, when I went in woods
To look for nests and hear the nightingale;
Dog-mercury shoots; the sloe is full of flowers;
A willow flowers, and just above the ground,
The furze, like myrtle, scarce a finger long,
Is every where, and full of golden flowers;
And butterflies, the colour of the flowers—
As if the winds had blown them from their stalks—
Are all about, and every where is Spring!

NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 8

[Nigh Leopards hill stand All*ns hells]

Nigh Leopards hill stand All*ns hells
The public know the same
Where lady sods & buggers dwell
To play the dirty game

A man there is a prisoner there
Locked up from week to week
He's very fond they do declare
To play at hide & seek

With sweethearts so they seem to say
& such like sort of stuff
Well—one did come the other day
With half a pound of snuff

The snuff went here the snuff went there
& is not that a bad house
To cheat a prisoner of his fare
In a well ordered madhouse

They'll cheat you of your money friend
By takeing too much care o't
& if your wives their cun---ys send
They're sure to have a share o't

Now where this snuff could chance to stop
Perhaps gifts hurded are up
Till Mat & steward open shop
& have a jolly flare up

Madhouses they must shut up shop
& tramp to fairs & races
Master & men as madmen stop
Life lives by changeing places

[What happy thoughts the summer yields]

What happy thoughts the summer yields
Like woman soft & fair
The voice of love is in the fields
While music fills the air

[—Truth must be truth & will where e'er we go]

—Truth must be truth & will where e'er we go
Though bigots howl & fight to answer ‘No’

BALLAD—FRAGMENT

[O Lord God Almighty How Usefull Art Thou]

O Lord God Almighty How Usefull Art Thou
To Darn The Knaves Cloak & To Paint The Thieves Brow
As Good As A Laundress Thy Kindness Has Been
To Help Starving Sinners & Wash The Unclean
Thou'rt As Good As A Nurse To The Sickly & Lame
That Live In Bad House's & Die In Ill Fame
For The Worst In The World Have A Passport For Heaven
While The Best Go To Hell Like A Deed Unforgiven

& I'll Hazard Hell Upon Life's Roughest Waves
Before I'll Be Cheated By Ruffians & Knaves
Plain Honesty Still Is The Truth Of My Song
& I'll Still Stick For Right To Be Out Of The Wrong
The Honest & True My Example Shall Be
For While A Man's Honest His Conscience Is Free

CHILD HAROLD

Many are poets—though they use no pen
To show their labours to the shuffling age
Real poets must be truly honest men
Tied to no mongrel laws on flatterys page
No zeal have they for wrong or party rage
—The life of labour is a rural song
That hurts no cause—nor warfare tries to wage
Toil like the brook in music wears along—
Great little minds claim right to act the wrong

Ballad

Summer morning is risen
& to even it wends
& still Im in prison
Without any friends

I had joys assurance
Though in bondage I lie
—I am still left in durance
Unwilling to sigh

Still the forest is round me
Where the trees bloom in green
As if chains ne'er had bound me
Or cares had ne'er been

Nature's love is eternal
In forest & plain
Her course is diurnal
To blossom again

For home & friends vanished
I have kindness not wrath
For in days care has banished
My heart possessed both

My hopes are all hopeless
My skys have no sun
Winter fell in youths mayday
& still freezes on

But Love like the seed is
In the heart of a flower
It will blossom with truth
In a prosperous hour

True love is eternal
For God is the giver
& love like the soul will
Endure—& forever

& he who studies natures volume through
& reads it with a pure unselfish mind
Will find Gods power all round in every view
As one bright vision of the almighty mind
His eyes are open though the world is blind
No ill from him creations works deform
The high & lofty one is great & kind
Evil may cause the blight & crushing storm
His is the sunny glory & the calm

Song

The sun has gone down with a veil on his brow
While I in the forest sit museing alone
The maiden has been oer the hills for her cow
While my hearts affections are freezing to stone
Sweet Mary I wish that the day was my own
To live in a cottage with beauty & thee
The past I will not as a mourner bemoan
For abscence leaves Mary still dearer to me

How sweet are the glooms of the midsummer even
Dark night in the bushes seems going to rest
& the bosom of Mary with fancys is heaving
Where my sorrows & feelings for seasons were blest
Nor will I repine though in love we're divided
She in the Lowlands & I in the glen
Of these forest beeches—by nature we're guided
& I shall find rest on her bosom agen

How soft the dew falls on the leaves of the beeches
How fresh the wild flower seems to slumber below
How sweet are the lessons that nature still teaches
For truth is her tidings wherever I go

From school days of boyhood her image was cherished
In manhood sweet Mary was fairer then flowers
Nor yet has her name or her memory perished
Though abscence like winter oer happiness lowers

Though cares still will gather like clouds in my sky
Though hopes may grow hopeless & fetters recoil
While the sun of existance sheds light in my eye
I'll be free in a prison & cling to the soil
I'll cling to the spot where my first love was cherished
Where my heart nay my soul unto Mary I gave
& when my last hope & existance is perished
Her memory will shine like a sun on my grave

Mary thou ace of hearts thou muse of song
The pole star of my being & decay
Earths coward foes my shattered bark may wrong
Still thourt the sunrise of my natal day
Born to misfortunes—where no sheltering bay
Keeps off the tempest—wrecked where'er I flee
I struggle with my fate—in trouble strong—
Mary thy name loved long still keeps me free
Till my lost life becomes a part of thee

Song a

I've wandered many a weary mile
Love in my heart was burning
To seek a home in Mary[s] smile
But cold is loves returning

The cold ground was a feather bed
Truth never acts contrary
I had no home above my head
My home was love & Mary

I had no home in early youth
When my first love was thwarted
But if her heart still beats with truth
We'll never more be parted
& changing as her love may be
My own shall never vary
Nor night nor day I'm never free
But sigh for abscent Mary

Nor night nor day nor sun nor shade
Week month nor rolling year
Repairs the breach wronged love hath made
There madness—misery here
Lifes lease was lengthened by her smiles
—Are truth & love contrary
No ray of hope my life beguiles
I've lost love home & Mary

Love is the main spring of existance—It
Becomes a soul wherebye I live to love
On all I see that dearest name is writ
Falsehood is here—but truth has life above
Where every star that shines exists in love
Skys vary in their clouds—the seasons vary
From heat to cold—change cannot constant prove
The south is bright—but smiles can act contrary
My guide star gilds the north—& shines with Mary

Song b

Heres where Mary loved to be
& here are flowers she planted
Here are books she loved to see
& here the kiss she granted

Here on the wall with smileing brow
Her picture used to cheer me
Both walls & rooms are naked now
No Marys nigh to hear me

The church spire still attracts my eye
& leaves me broken hearted
Though grief hath worn their channels dry
I sigh o'er days departed

The churchyard where she used to play
My feet could wander hourly
My school walks there was every day
Where she made winter flowery

But where is angel Mary now
Loves secrets none disclose 'em
Her rosey cheeks & broken vow
Live in my aching bosom

My life hath been one love—no blot it out
My life hath been one chain of contradictions
Madhouses Prisons wh---re shops—never doubt
But that my life hath had some strong convictions
That such was wrong—religion makes restrictions

I would have followed—but life turned a bubble
& clumb the jiant stile of maledictions
They took me from my wife & to save trouble
I wed again & made the error double

Yet abscence claims them both & keeps them too
& locks me in a shop in spite of law
Among a low lived set & dirty crew
Here let the Muse oblivions curtain draw
& let man think—for God hath often saw
Things here too dirty for the light of day
For in a madhouse there exists no law—
Now stagnant grows my too refined clay
I envy birds their wings to flye away

How servile is the task to please alone
Though beauty woo & love inspire the song
Mere painted beauty with her heart of stone
Thinks the world worships while she flaunts along
The flower of sunshine butterflye of song
Give me the truth of heart in womans life
The love to cherish one—& do no wrong
To none—O peace of every care & strife
Is true love in an estimable wife

How beautifull this hill of fern swells on
So beautifull the chappel peeps between
The hornbeams—with its simple bell—alone
I wander here hid in a palace green
Mary is abscent—but the forest queen
Nature is with me—morning noon & gloaming
I write my poems in these paths unseen
& when among these brakes & beeches roaming
I sigh for truth & home & love & woman

I sigh for one & two—& still I sigh
For many are the whispers I have heard
From beautys lips—loves soul in many an eye
Hath pierced my heart with such intense regard
I Looked for joy & pain was the reward
I think of them I love each girl & boy
Babes of two mothers—on this velvet sward
& nature thinks—in her so sweet employ
While dews fall on each blossom weeping joy

Here is the chappel yard enclosed with pales
& oak trees nearly top its little bell
Here is the little bridge with guiding rail
That leads me on to many a pleasant dell
The fernowl chitters like a startled knell
To nature—yet tis sweet at evening still—
A pleasant road curves round the gentle swell
Where nature seems to have her own sweet will
Planting her beech & thorn about the sweet fern hill

I have had many loves—& seek no more—
These solitudes my last delights shall be
The leaf hid forest—& the lonely shore
Seem to my mind like beings that are free
Yet would I had some eye to smile on me
Some heart where I could make a happy home in
Sweet Susan that was wont my love to be
& Bessey of the glen—for I've been roaming
With both at morn & noon & dusky gloaming

Cares gather round I snap their chains in two
& smile in agony & laugh in tears
Like playing with a deadly serpent—who
Stings to the death—there is no room for fears
Where death would bring me happiness—his sheers
Kills cares that hiss to poison many a vein
The thought to be extinct my fate endears
Pale death the grand phis[i]cian cures all pain
The dead rest well—who lived for joys in vain

Written in a Thunder storm July 15th 1841

The heavens are wrath—the thunders rattling peal
Rolls like a vast volcano in the sky
Yet nothing starts the apathy I feel
Nor chills with fear eternal destiny

My soul is apathy—a ruin vast
Time cannot clear the ruined mass away
My life is hell—the hopeless die is cast
& manhoods prime is premature decay

Roll on ye wrath of thunders—peal on peal
Till worlds are ruins & myself alone
Melt heart & soul cased in obdurate steel
Till I can feel that nature is my throne

I live in love sun of undying light
& fathom my own heart for ways of good
In its pure atmosphere day without night
Smiles on the plains the forest & the flood

Smile on ye elements of earth & sky
Or frown in thunders as ye frown on me
Bid earth & its delusions pass away
But leave the mind as its creator free

This twilight seems a veil of gause & mist
Trees seem dark hills between the earth & sky
Winds sob awake & then a gusty hist
Fanns through the wheat like serpents gliding bye
I love to stretch my length 'tween earth & sky
& see the inky foliage oer me wave
Though shades are still my prison where I lie
Long use grows nature which I easy brave
& think how sweet cares rest within the grave

Remind me not of other years or tell
My broken hopes of joys they are to meet
While thy own falshood rings the loudest knell
To one fond heart that aches too cold to beat
Mary how oft with fondness I repeat
That name alone to give my troubles rest
The very sound though bitter seemeth sweet—
In my loves home & thy own faithless breast
Truths bonds are broke & every nerve distrest

Life is to me a dream that never wakes
Night finds me on this lengthening road alone
Love is to me a thought that ever aches
A frost bound thought that freezes life to stone
Mary in truth & nature still my own
That warms the winter of my aching breast
Thy name is joy nor will I life bemoan—
Midnight when sleep takes charge of natures rest
Finds me awake & friendless—not distrest

Tie all my cares up in thy arms O sleep
& give my weary spirits peace & rest
I'm not an outlaw in this midnight deep
If prayers are offered from sweet womans breast

One & one only made my being blest
& fancy shapes her form in every dell
On that sweet bosom I've had hours of rest
Though now through years of abscence doomed to dwell
Day seems my night & night seems blackest hell

England my country though my setting sun
Sinks in the ocean gloom & dregs of life
My muse can sing my Marys heart was won
& joy was heaven when I called her wife
The only harbour in my days of strife
Was Mary when the sea roiled mountains high
When joy was lost & every sorrow rife
To her sweet bosom I was wont to flye
To undecieve by truth lifes treacherous agony

Friend of the friendless from a host of snares
From lying varlets & from friendly foes
I sought thy quiet truth to ease my cares
& on the blight of reason found repose
But when the strife of nature ceased her throes
& other hearts would beat for my return
I trusted fate to ease my world of woes
Seeking loves harbour—where I now sojourn
—But hell is heaven could I cease to mourn

For her for one whose very name is yet
My hell or heaven—& will ever be
Falsehood is doubt—but I can ne'er forget
Oaths virtuous falsehood volunteered to me
To make my soul new bonds which God made free
Gods gift is love & do I wrong the giver
To place affections wrong from Gods decree
—No[w] when farewell upon my lips did quiver
& all seemed lost—I loved her more then ever

I loved her in all climes beneath the sun
Her name was like a jewel in my heart
Twas heavens own choice—& so Gods will be done
Love ties that keep unbroken cannot part
Nor can cold abscence sever or desert
That simple beauty blessed with matchless charms
Oceans have rolled between us—not to part
E'en Icelands snows true loves delirium warms
For there Ive dreamed—& Mary filled my arms

Song

O Mary sing thy songs to me
Of love & beautys melody
My sorrows sink beneath distress
My deepest griefs are sorrowless
So used to glooms & cares am I
My tearless troubles seem as joy
O Mary sing thy songs to me
Of love & beautys melody

‘To be beloved is all I need
& them I love are loved indeed’
The soul of woman is my shrine
& Mary made my songs divine
O for that time that happy time
To hear thy sweet Piana's chime
In music so divine & clear
That woke my soul in heaven to hear

But heaven itself without thy face
To me would be no resting place
& though the world was one delight
No joy would live but in thy sight

The soul of woman is my shrine
Then Mary make those songs divine
For music love & melody
Breath all of thee & only thee

Song

Lovely Mary when we parted
I ne'er felt so lonely hearted
As I do now in field & glen
When hope says ‘we shall meet agen’
& by yon spire that points to heaven
Where my earliest vows was given
By each meadow field & fen
I'll love thee till we meet agen

True as the needle to the pole
My life I love thee heart & soul
Wa'n't thy love in my heart enrolled
Though love was fire 't'would soon be cold
By thy eyes of heavens own blue
My heart for thine was ever true
By sun & moon by sea & shore
My life I love thee more & more

& by that hope that lingers last
For heaven when lifes hell is past
By time the present—past & gone
I've loved thee—& I love thee on

Thy beauty made youths life divine
Till my soul grew a part of thine
Mary I mourn no pleasures gone—
The past hath made us both as one

Now melancholly autumn comes anew
With showery clouds & fields of wheat tanned brown
Along the meadow banks I peace pursue
& see the wild flowers gleaming up & down
Like sun & light—the ragworts golden crown
Mirrors like sunshine when sunbeams retire
& silver yarrow—there's the little town
& oer the meadows gleams that slender spire
Reminding me of one—& waking fond desire

I love thee nature in my inmost heart
Go where I will thy truth seems from above
Go where I will thy landscape forms a part
Of heaven—e'en these fens where wood nor grove
Are seen—their very nakedness I love
For one dwells nigh that secret hopes prefer
Above the race of women—like the dove
I mourn her abscence—fate that would deter
My hate for all things—strengthens love for her

Thus saith the great & high & lofty one
Whose name is holy—home eternity
In the high & holy place I dwell alone
& with them also that I wish to see
Of contrite humble spirits—from sin free
Who trembles at my word—& good recieve
—Thou high & lofty one—O give to me
Truths low estate & I will glad believe
If such I am not—such I'm feign to live

That form from boyhood loved & still loved on
That voice—that look—that face of one delight
Loves register for years, months, weeks—time past & gone
Her looks was ne'er forgot or out of sight
—Mary the muse of every song I write
Thy cherished memory never leaves my own
Though cares chill winter doth my manhood blight
& freeze like Niobe my thoughts to stone—
Our lives are two—our end & aim is one

Ballad

Sweet days while God your blessings send
I call your joys my own
—& if I have an only friend
I am not left alone

She sees the fields the trees the spires
Which I can daily see
& if true love her heart inspires
Life still has joys for me

She sees the wild flower in the dells
That in my rambles shine
The sky that oer her homstead dwells
Looks sunny over mine

The cloud that passes where she dwells
In less then half an hour
Darkens around these orchard dells
Or melts a sudden shower

The wind that leaves the sunny south
& fans the orchard tree
Might steal the kisses from her mouth
& waft her voice to me

O when will autumn bring the news
Now harvest browns the fen
That Mary as my vagrant muse
& I shall meet agen

Tis pleasant now days hours begin to pass
To dewy Eve—To walk down narrow close
& feel ones feet among refreshing grass
& hear the insects in their homes discourse
& startled blackbird flye from covert close
Of white thorn hedge with wild fears fluttering wings
& see the spire & hear the clock toll hoarse
& whisper names—& think oer many things
That love hurds up in truths imaginings

Fame blazed upon me like a comets glare
Fame waned & left me like a fallen star
Because I told the evil what they are
& truth & falshood never wished to mar
My Life hath been a wreck—& I've gone far
For peace & truth—& hope—for home & rest
—Like Edens gates—fate throws a constant bar—
Thoughts may o'ertake the sunset in the west
—Man meets no home within a womans breast

Though they are blazoned in the poets song
As all the comforts which our lifes contain
I read & sought such joys my whole life long
& found the best of poets sung in vain
But still I read & sighed & sued again
& lost no purpose where I had the will
I almost worshiped when my toils grew vain
Finding no antidote my pains to kill
I sigh a poet & a lover still

Song

Dying gales of sweet even
How can you sigh so
Though the sweet day is leaving
& the sun sinketh low
How can you sigh so
For the wild flower is gay
& her dew gems all glow
For the abscence of day

Dying gales of sweet even
Breath music from toil
Dusky eve is loves heaven
& meets beautys smile
Love leans on the stile
Where the rustic brooks flow
Dying gales all the while
How can you sigh so

Dying gales round a prison
To fancy may sigh
But day here hath risen
Over prospects of joy

Here Mary would toy
When the sun it got low
Even gales whisper joy
& never sigh so

Labour lets man his brother
Retire to his nest
The babe meets its mother
& sleeps on her breast—
The sun in the west
Has gone down in the ocean
Dying gales gently sweep
O'er the hearts ruffled motion
& sing it to sleep

Song

The spring may forget that he reigns in the sky
& winter again hide her flowers in the snow
The summer may thirst when her fountains are dry
But I'll think of Mary wherever I go
The bird may forget that her nest is begun
When the snow settles white on the new budding tree
& nature in tempests forget the bright sun
But I'll ne'er forget her—that was plighted to me

How could I—how should I—that loved her so early
Forget—when I've sung of her beauty in song
How could I forget—what I've worshiped so dearly
From boyhood to manhood—& all my life long—
As leaves to the branches in summer comes duly
& blossoms will bloom on the stalk & the tree
To her beauty I'll cling—& I'll love her as truly
& think of sweet Mary wherever I be

Song

No single hour can stand for nought
No moment hand can move
But calenders a aching thought
Of my first lonely love

Where silence doth the loudest call
My secrets to betray
As moonlight holds the night in thrall
As suns reveal the day

I hide it in the silent shades
Till silence finds a tongue
I make its grave where time invades
Till time becomes a song

What mellowness these harvest days unfold
In the strong glances of the midday sun
The homesteads very grass seems changed to gold
The light in golden shadows seems to run
& tinges every spray it rests upon
With that rich harvest hue of sunny joy
Nature lifes sweet companion cheers alone—
The hare starts up before the shepherd boy
& partridge coveys wir on russet wings of joy

The meadow flags now rustle bleached & dank
& misted oer with down as fine as dew
The sloe & dewberry shine along the bank
Where weeds in blooms luxuriance lately grew
Red rose the sun & up the morehen flew
From bank to bank the meadow arches stride
Where foamy floods in winter tumbles through
& spread a restless ocean foaming wide
Where now the cowboys sleep nor fear the coming tide

About the medows now I love to sit
On banks bridge walls & rails as when a boy
To see old trees bend oer the flaggy pit
With hugh roots bare that time does not destroy
Where sits the angler at his days employ
& there [the] Ivy leaves the bank to climb
The tree—& now how sweet to weary joy
—Aye nothing seems so happy & sublime
As sabbath bells & their delightfull chime

Sweet solitude thou partner of my life
Thou balm of hope & every pressing care
Thou soothing silence oer the noise of strife
These meadow flats & trees—the Autumn air
Mellows my heart to harmony—I bear
Lifes burthen happily—these fenny dells
Seem Eden in this sabbath rest from care
My heart with loves first early memory swells
To hear the music of those village bells

For in that hamlet lives my rising sun
Whose beams hath cheered me all my lorn life long
My heart to nature there was early won
For she was natures self—& still my song
Is her through sun & shade through right & wrong

On her my memory forever dwells
The flower of Eden—evergreen of song
Truth in my heart the same love story tells
—I love the music of those village bells

Song

Heres a health unto thee bonny lassie O
Leave the thorns o' care wi' me
& whatever I may be
Here's happiness to thee
Bonny lassie O

Here's joy unto thee bonny lassie O
Though we never meet again
I well can bear the pain
If happiness is thine
Bonny lassie O

Here is true love unto thee bonny lassie O
Though abscence cold is ours
The spring will come wi' flowers
& love will wait for thee
Bonny lassie O

So heres love unto thee bonny lassie O
Aye wherever I may be
Here's a double health to thee
Till life shall cease to love
Bonny lassie O

The blackbird startles from the homestead hedge
Raindrops & leaves fall yellow as he springs
Such images are natures sweetest pledge
To me there's music in his rustling wings
‘Prink prink’ he cries & loud the robin sings
The small hawk like a shot drops from the sky
Close to my feet for mice & creeping things
Then swift as thought again he suthers bye
& hides among the clouds from the pursueing eye

Song

Her cheeks are like roses
Her eyes they are blue
& her beauty is mine
If her heart it is true

Her cheeks are like roses—
& though she's away
I shall see her sweet beauty
On some other day

Ere the flowers of the spring
Deck the meadow & plain
If theres truth in her bosom
I shall see her again

I will love her as long
As the brooks they shall flow
For Mary is mine &
Whereso ever I go

Honesty & good intentions are
So mowed & hampered in with evil lies
She hath not room to stir a single foot
Or even strength to break a spiders web
—So lies keep climbing round loves sacred stem
Blighting fair truth whose leaf is evergreen
Whose roots are the hearts fibres & whose sun
The soul that cheers & smiles it into bloom
Till heaven proclaims that truth can never die

The lightenings vivid flashes—rend the cloud
That rides like castled crags along the sky
& splinters them to fragments—while aloud
The thunders heavens artillery vollies bye
Trees crash, earth trembles—beast prepare to flye
Almighty what a crash—yet man is free
& walks unhurt while danger seems so nigh—
Heavens archway now the rainbow seems to be
That spans the eternal round of earth & sky & sea

A shock, a moment, in the wrath of God
Is long as hell's eternity to all
His thunderbolts leave life but as the clod
Cold & inna[ni]mate—their temples fall
Beneath his frown to ashes—the eternal pall
Of wrath sleeps oer the ruins where they fell
& nought of memory may their creeds recall
The sin of Sodom was a moments yell
Fires death bed theirs their first grave the last hell

The towering willow with its pliant boughs
Sweeps its grey foliage to the autumn wind
The level grounds where oft a group of cows
Huddled together close—or propped behind
An hedge or hovel ruminate & find
The peace—as walks & health & I pursue
For natures every place is still resigned
To happiness—new life's in every view
& here I comfort seek & early joys renew

The lake that held a mirror to the sun
Now curves with wrinkles in the stillest place
The autumn wind sounds hollow as a gun
& water stands in every swampy place
Yet in these fens peace harmony & grace
The attributes of nature are alied
The barge with naked mast in sheltered place
Beside the brig close to the bank is tied
While small waves plashes by its bulky side

Song

The floods come oer the meadow leas
The dykes are full & brimming
Field furrows reach the horses knees
Where wild ducks oft are swimming
The skyes are black the fields are bare
The trees their coats are loosing
The leaves are dancing in the air
The sun its warmth refusing

Brown are the flags & fadeing sedge
& tanned the meadow plains
Bright yellow is the osier hedge
Beside the brimming drains
The crows sit on the willow tree
The lake is full below
But still the dullest thing I see
Is self that wanders slow

The dullest scenes are not so dull
As thoughts I cannot tell
The brimming dykes are not so full
As my hearts silent swell
I leave my troubles to the winds
With none to share a part
The only joy my feeling finds
Hides in an aching heart

Abscence in love is worse then any fate
Summer is winters desert & the spring
Is like a ruined city desolate
Joy dies & hope retires on feeble wing
Nature sinks heedless—birds unheeded sing
Tis solitude in citys—crowds all move
Like living death—though all to life still cling—
The strongest bitterest thing that life can prove
Is womans undisguise of hate & love

Song

I think of thee at early day
& wonder where my love can be
& when the evening shadows grey
O how I think of thee

Along the meadow banks I rove
& down the flaggy fen
& hope my first & early love
To meet thee once agen

I think of thee at dewy morn
& at the sunny noon
& walks with thee—now left forlorn
Beneath the silent moon

I think of thee I think of all
How blest we both have been—
The sun looks pale upon the wall
& autumn shuts the scene

I can't expect to meet thee now
The winter floods begin
The wind sighs through the naked bough
Sad as my heart within

I think of thee the seasons through
In spring when flowers I see
In winters lorn & naked view
I think of only thee

While life breaths on this earthly ball
What e'er my lot may be
Wether in freedom or in thrall
Mary I think of thee

Tis winter & the fields are bare & waste
The air one mass of ‘vapour clouds & storms’
The suns broad beams are buried & oercast
& chilly glooms the midday light deforms
Yet comfort now the social bosom warms
Friendship of nature which I hourly prove
Even in this winter scene of frost & storms
Bare fields the frozen lake & leafless grove
Are natures grand religion & true love

Song

Thourt dearest to my bosom
As thou wilt ever be
While the meadows wear a blossom
Or a leaf is on the tree
I can forget thee never—
While the meadow grass is green
While the flood rolls down the river
Thou art still my bonny queen

While the winter swells the fountain
While the spring awakes the bee
While the chamois loves the mountain
Thou'lt be ever dear to me

Dear as summer to the sun
As spring is to the bee
Thy love was soon as won
& so twill ever be

Thou'rt loves eternal summer
The dearest maid I prove
With bosom white as ivory
& warm as virgin love
No falsehood gets between us
Theres nought the tie can sever
As cupid dwells with venus
Thou'rt my own love forever

Song

In this cold world without a home
Disconsolate I go
The summer looks as cold to me
As winters frost & snow
Though winters scenes are dull & drear
A colder lot I prove
No home had I through all the year
But Marys honest love

But Love inconstant as the wind
Soon shifts another way
No other home my heart can find
Life wasting day by day
I sigh & sit & sit & sigh
For better days to come
For Mary was my hope & joy
Her truth & heart my home

Her truth & heart was once my home
& May was all the year
But now through seasons as I roam
Tis winter everywhere
Hopeless I go through care & toil
No friend I e'er possest
To reccompence for Marys smile
& the love within her breast

My love was ne'er so blest as when
It mingled with her own
Told often to be told agen
& every feeling known
But now loves hopes are all bereft
A lonely man I roam
& abscent Mary long hath left
My heart without a home

27

The Paigles Bloom In Shower's In Grassy Close
How Sweet To Be Among Their Blossoms Led
& Hear Sweet Nature To Herself Discourse
While Pale The Moon Is Bering Over Head

& Hear The Grazeing Cattle Softly Tread
Cropping The Hedgerows Newly Leafing Thorn
Sounds Soft As Visions Murmured Oer In Bed
At Dusky Eve Or Sober Silent Morn
For Such Delights Twere Happy Man Was Born

3

Green bushes & green trees where fancy feeds
On the retireing solitudes of May
Where the sweet foliage like a volume reads
& weeds are gifts too choice to throw away
How sweet the evening now succeeds the day
The velvet hillock forms a happy seat
The white thorn bushes bend with snowey may
Dwarf furze in golden blooms & violets sweet
Make this wild scene a pleasure grounds retreat

18

Where are my ‘friends’ & childern where are they
The childern of two mothers born in joy
One roof has held them—‘all’ have been at play
Beneath the pleasures of a mothers eye
—& are my late hope's blighted—need I sigh
Hath care commenced his long perpetual reign
The spring & summer hath with me gone bye
Hope views the bud a flower & not in vain
Long is the night that brings no morn again

4

Now Come The Balm & Breezes Of The Spring
Not With The Pleasure's Of My Early Day's
When Nature Seemed One Endless Song To Sing
A Joyous Melody & Happy Praise
Ah Would They Come Agen—But Life Betrays
Quicksands & Gulphs & Storms That Howl & Sting
All Quiet Into Madness & Delays
Care Hides The Sunshine With Its Raven Wing
& Hell Glooms Sadness Oer The Songs Of Spring

5

Like Satans Warcry First In Paradise
When Love Lay Sleeping On The Flowery Slope
Like Virtue Wakeing In The Arms Of Vice
Or Deaths Sea Bursting In The Midst Of Hope
Sorrows Will Stay—& Pleasures Will Elope
In The Uncertain Cartnty Of Care
Joys Bounds Are Narrow But A Wider Scope
Is Left For Trouble Which Our Life Must Bear
Of Which All Human Life Is More Or Less The Heir

6

My Mind Is Dark & Fathomless & Wears
The Hues Of Hopeless Agony & Hell
No Plummet Ever Sounds The Souls Affairs
There Death Eternal Never Sounds The Knell
There Love Imprisoned Sighs The Long Farewell
& Still May Sigh In Thoughts No Heart Hath Penned
Alone In Loneliness Where Sorrows Dwell
& Hopeless Hope Hopes On & Meets No End
Wastes Without Springs & Homes Without A Friend

Song

Say What Is Love—To Live In Vain
To Live & Die & Live Again

Say What Is Love—Is It To Be
In Prison Still & Still Be Free

Or Seem As Free—Alone & Prove
The Hopeless Hopes of Real Love

Does Real Love On Earth Exist
Tis Like A Sun beam On The Mist

That Fades & No Where Will Remain
& Nowhere Is Oertook Again

Say What Is Love—A Blooming Name
A Rose Leaf On The Page Of Fame

That Blooms Then Fades—To Cheat No More
& Is What Nothing Was Before

Say What Is Love—What E'er It be
It Center's Mary Still With Thee

7

What Is The Orphan Child without A Friend
That Knows No Fathers Care Or Mothers Love
No Leading Hand His Infant Steps Defend
& None To Notice But His God Above
No Joy's Are Seen His Little Heart To Move
Care Turns All Joys to Dross & Nought To Gold
& Smiles In Fancys Time May Still Disprove
Growing To Cares & Sorrow's Menifold
Bird Of The Waste A Lamb Without A Fold

8

No Mothers Love or Fathers Care Have They
Left To The Storms Of Fate Like Creatures Wild
They Live Like Blossoms In The Winters Day
E'en Nature Frowns Upon The Orphan Child
On Whose Young Face A Mother Never Smiled
Foolhardy Care Increasing With His Years
From Friends & Joys Of Every Kind Exiled
Even Old In Care The Infant Babe Appears
& Many A Mother Meets Its Face in Tears

9

The Dog Can Find A Friend & Seeks His Side
The Ass Can Know Its Owner & Is Fed
But None Are Known To Be The Orphans Guide
Toil Breaks His Sleep & Sorrow Makes His Bed
No Mothers Hand Holds Out The Sugared Bread
To Fill His Little Hand—He Hears No Song
To Please His Pouting Humours—Love Is Dead
With Him & Will Be All His Whole Life Long
Lone Child Of Sorrow & Perpetual Wrong

10

But Providence That Grand Eternal Calm
Is With Him Like The Sunshine In The Sky
Nature Our Kindest Mother Void of Harm
Watches The Orphan's Lonely Infancy
Strengthening The Man When Childhoods Cares Are Bye
She Nurses Still Young Unreproached Distress
& Hears The Lonely Infants Every Sigh
Who Finds At Length To Make Its Sorrows Less
Mid Earths Cold Curses There Is One To Bless

11

Sweet Rural Maids Made Beautifull By Health
Brought Up Where Natures Calm Encircles All
Where Simple Love Remains As Sterling Wealth
Where Simple Habits Early Joys Recall
Of Youthfull Feelings Which No Wiles Enthrall
The Happy Milk Maid In Her Mean Array
Fresh As The New Blown Rose Outblooms Them All
E'en Queens Might Sigh To Be As Blest As They
While Milkmaids Laugh & Sing Their Cares Away

12

How Doth Those Scenes Which Rural Mirth Endears
Revise Old Feelings That My Youth Hath Known
& Paint The Faded Bloom Of Earlier Years
& Soften Feelings Petrefied To Stone
Joy Fled & Care Proclaimed Itself My Own
Farewells I Took Of Joys In Earliest Years
& Found The Greatest Bliss To Be Alone
My Manhood Was Eclipsed But Not In Fears
—Hell Came In Curses & She Laughd At Tears

13

But Memory Left Sweet Traces Of Her Smiles
Which I Remember Still & Still Endure
The Shadows Of First Loves My Heart Beguiles
Time Brought Both Pain & Pleasure But No Cure
Sweet Bessey Maid Of Health & Fancys Pure
How Did I Woo Thee Once—still Unforgot
But Promises In Love Are Never Sure
& Where We Met How Dear Is Every Spot
& Though We Parted Still I Murmur Not

14

For Loves However Dear Must Meet With Clouds
& Ties Made Tight Get Loose & May Be Parted
Springs First Young Flowers The Winter Often Shrouds
& Loves First Hopes Are Very Often Thwarted
E'en Mine Beat High & Then Fell Broken Hearted
& Sorrow Mourned In Verse To Reconscile
My Feelings To My Fate Though Lone & Parted
Loves Enemies Are Like The Scorpion Vile
That Oer Its Ruined Hopes Will Hiss & Smile

Ballad

The Blackbird Has Built In The Pasture Agen
& The Thorn Oer The Pond Shows A Delicate Green
Where I Strolled With Patty Adown In The Glen
& Spent Summer Evenings & Sundays Unseen
How Sweet The Hill Brow
& The Low Of The Cow
& The Sunshine That Gilded The Bushes So Green
When Evening Brought Dews Natures Thirst To Allay
& Clouds Seemed To Nestle Round Hamlets & Farms
While In The Green Bushes We Spent The Sweet Day
& Patty Sweet Patty Was Still In My Arms

The Love Bloom That Redded Upon Her Sweet Lips
The Love Light That Glistened Within Her Sweet Eye
The Singing Bees There That The Wild Honey Sips
From Wild Blossoms Seemed Not So Happy As I
How Sweet Her Smile Seemed
While The Summer Sun Gleamed
& The Laugh Of The Spring Shadowed Joys From On High

While The Birds Sung About Us & Cattle Grazed Round
& Beauty Was Blooming On Hamlets & Farms
How Sweet Steamed The Inscence Of Dew From The Ground
While Patty Sweet Patty Sat Locked In My Arms

15

Yet Love Lives On In Every Kind of Weather
In Heat & Cold In Sunshine & In Gloom
Winter May Blight & Stormy Clouds May Gather
Nature Invigorates & Love Will Bloom
It Fears No Sorrow In A Life To Come
But Lives Within Itself From Year To Year
As Doth The Wild Flower In Its Own Perfume
As In The Lapland Snows Springs Blooms Appear
So True Love Blooms & Blossoms Every Where

Ballad

The Rose Of The World Was Dear Mary To Me
In The Days Of My Boyhood & Youth
I Told Her In Songs Where My Heart Wished To Be
& My Songs Where The Language of Truth

I Told Her In Looks When I Gazed In Her Eyes
That Mary Was Dearest To Me
I Told Her In Words & The Language Of Sighs
Where My Whole Hearts Affections Would Be

I Told her in love that all nature was true
I convinced her that nature was kind
But love in his trials had labour to do
[OMITTED] Mary would be in the mind

Mary met me in spring where the speedwell knots grew
& the king cups were shining like flame
I chose her all colours red yellow & blue
But my love was one hue & the same

Spring summer & winter & all the year through
In the sunshine the shower & the blast
I told the same tale & she knows it all true
& Mary's my blossom at last

16

Love is of heaven still the first akin
Twas born In paradise & left its home
For desert lands stray hearts to nurse & win
Though pains like plagues pursue them where they roam
Its joys are ever green & blooms at home
The sailor rocking on the giddy mast
The soldier when the cannons cease to boom
& every heart its doubts or dangers past
Beats on its way for love & home at last

17

Nature thou truth of heaven if heaven be true
Falsehood may tell her ever changeing lie
But natures truth looks green in every view
& love in every Landscape glads the eye
How beautifull these slopeing thickets lie
Woods on the hills & plains all smooth & even
Through which we see the ribboned evening skie
Though Winter here in floods & snows was driven
Spring came like God & turned it all to heaven

18

There Is A Tale For Every Day To Hear
For Every Heart To Feel & Tongue To Tell
The Daughters Anzious Dread The Lovers Fear
Pains That In Cots & Palaces May Dwell
Not Short & Passing Like The Friends Farewell
Where Tears May Fall & Leave A Smile Beneath
Eternal Grief Rings In The Passing Bell
Tis Not The Sobs Of Momentary Breath
Ties Part Forever In The Tale Of Death

19

The Dew falls on the weed & on the flower
The rose & thistle bathe their heads in dew
The lowliest heart may have its prospering hour
The sadest bosom meet its wishes true
E'en I may joy love happiness renew
Though not the sweets of my first early days
When one sweet face was all the loves I knew
& my soul trembled on her eyes to gaze
Whose very censure seemed intended praise

20

A soul within the heart that loves the more
Giving to pains & fears eternal life
Burning the flesh till it consumes the core
So Love is still the eternal calm of strife
Thou soul within a soul thou life of life
Thou Essence of my hopes & fears & joys
M---y my dear first love & early wife
& still the flower my inmost soul enjoys
Thy love's the bloom no canker worm destroys

21

Flow on my verse though barren thou mayest be
Of thought—Yet sing & let thy fancys roll
In Early days thou sweept a mighty sea
All calm in troublous deeps & spurned controul
Thou fire & iceberg to an aching soul
& still an angel in my gloomy way
Far better opiate then the draining bowl
Still sing my muse to drive cares fiends away
Nor heed what loitering listener hears the lay

22

My themes be artless cots & happy plains
Though far from man my wayward fancies flee
Of fields & woods rehearse in willing strains
& I mayhap may feed on joys with thee
These cowslip fields this sward my pillow be
So I may sleep the sun into the west
My cot this awthorn hedge this spreading tree
—Mary & Martha once my daily guests
& still as mine both wedded loved & blest

23

I rest my wearied life in these sweet fields
Reflecting every smile in natures face
& much of joy this grass—These hedges yields
Not found in citys where crowds daily trace
Heart pleasures there hath no abideing place
The star gemmed early morn the silent even
Hath pleasures that our broken hopes deface
To love too well leaves nought to be forgiven
The Gates of Eden is the bounds of heaven

24

The apathy that fickle love wears through
The doubts & certaintys are still akin
Its every joy has sorrow in the view
Its holy truth like Eve's beguileing sin
Seems to be losses even while we win
Tormenting joys & cheating into wrong
& still we love—& fall into the Gin
My sun of love was short—& clouded long
& now its shadow fills a feeble song

Song

I saw her in my springs young choice
Ere loves hopes looked upon the crowd
Ere loves first secrets found a voice
Or dared to speak the name aloud

I saw her in my boyish hours
A Girl as fair as heaven above
When all the world seemed strewn with flowers
& every pulse & look was love

I saw her when her heart was young
I saw her when my heart was true
When truth was all the themes I sung
& Love the only muse I knew

Ere infancy had left her brow
I seemed to love her from her birth
& thought her then as I do now
The dearest angel upon earth

25

O she was more then fair—divinely fair
Can language paint the soul in those blue eyes
Can fancy read the feelings painted there
—Those hills of snow that on her bosom lies
Or beauty speak for all those sweet replies
That through loves visions like the sun is breaking
Wakeing new hopes & fears & stifled sighs
From first love's dreame's my love is scarcely waking
The wounds might heal but still the heart is aching

26

Her looks was like the spring her very voice
Was springs own music more then song to me
Choice of my boyhood nay my souls first choice
From her sweet thralldom I am never free
Yet here my prison is a spring to me
Past memories bloom like flowers where e'er I rove
My very bondage though in snares—is free
I love to stretch me in this shadey Grove
& muse upon the memories of love

Hail Solitude still Peace & Lonely good
Thou spirit of all joys to be alone
My best of friends these glades & this green wood
Where nature is herself & loves her own
The hearts hid anguish here I make it known
& tell my troubles to the gentle wind
Friends cold neglects have froze my heart to stone
& wrecked the voyage of a quiet mind
With wives & friends & every hope disjoined

Wrecked of all hopes save one to be alone
Where Solitude becomes my wedded mate
Sweet Forest with rich beauties overgrown
Where solitude is queen & riegns in state
Hid in green trees I hear the clapping gate
& voices calling to the rambling cows
I Laugh at Love & all its idle fate
The present hour is all my lot alows
An age of sorrow springs from lovers vows

Sweet is the song of Birds for that restores
The soul to harmony the mind to love
Tis natures song of freedom out of doors
Forests beneath free winds & clouds above
The Thrush & Nightingale & timid dove
Breathe music round me where the gipseys dwell—
Pierced hearts left burning in the doubts of love
Are desolate where crowds & citys dwell—
The splendid palace seems the gates of hell

DON JUAN A POEM

‘Poets are born’—& so are whores—the trade is
Grown universal—in these canting days
Women of fashion must of course be ladies
& whoreing is the business—that still pays
Playhouses Ball rooms—there the masquerade is
—To do what was of old—& now adays
Their maids—nay wives so innoscent & blooming
Cuckold their spouses to seem honest women

Milton sung Eden & the fall of man
Not woman for the name implies a wh---e
& they would make a ruin of his plan
Falling so often they can fall no lower
Tell me a worse delusion if you can
For innoscence—& I will sing no more
Wherever mischief is tis womans brewing
Created from manself—to be mans ruin

The flower in bud hides from the fading sun
& keeps the hue of beauty on its cheek
But when full blown they into riot run
The hue turns pale & lost each ruddy streak
So 't'is with woman who pretends to shun
Immodest actions which they inly seek
Night hides the wh---e—cupboards tart & pasty
Flora was p---x---d—& womans quite as nasty

Marriage is nothing but a driveling hoax
To please old codgers when they're turned of forty
I wed & left my wife like other folks
But not untill I found her false & faulty
O woman fair—the man must pay thy jokes
Such makes a husband very often naughty
Who falls in love will seek his own undoing
The road to marriage is—‘the road to ruin’

Love worse then debt or drink or any fate
It is the damnest smart of matrimony
A hell incarnate is a woman-mate
The knot is tied—& then we loose the honey
A wife is just the protetype to hate
Commons for stock & warrens for the coney
Are not more tresspassed over in rights plan
Then this incumberance on the rights of man

There's much said about love & more of women
I wish they were as modest as they seem
Some borrow husbands till their cheeks are blooming
Not like the red rose blush—but yellow cream
Lord what a while those good days are in coming—
Routs Masques & Balls—I wish they were a dream
—I wish for poor men luck—an honest praxis
Cheap food & cloathing—no corn laws or taxes

I wish—but there is little got bye wishing
I wish that bread & great coats ne'er had risen
I wish that there was some such word as 'pishun
For ryhme sake for my verses must be dizen
With dresses fine—as hooks with baits for fishing
I wish all honest men were out of prison
I wish M.P's. would spin less yarn—nor doubt
But burn false bills & cross bad taxes out

I wish young married dames were not so frisky
Nor hide the ring to make believe they're single
I wish small beer was half as good as whiskey
& married dames with buggers would not mingle
There's some too cunning far & some too frisky
& here I want a ryhme—so write down ‘jingle’
& there's such putting in—in whores crim con
Some mouths would eat forever & eat on

Childern are fond of sucking sugar candy
& maids of sausages—larger the better
Shopmen are fond of good sigars & brandy
& I of blunt—& if you change the letter
To C or K it would be quite as handy
& throw the next away—but I'm your debtor
For modesty—yet wishing nought between us
I'd hawl close to a she as vulcan did to venus

I really cant tell what this poem will be
About—nor yet what trade I am to follow
I thought to buy old wigs—but that will kill me
With cold starvation—as they're beaten hollow
Long speeches in a famine will not fill me
& madhouse traps still take me by the collar
So old wig bargains now must be forgotten
The oil that dressed them fine has made them rotten

I wish old wigs were done with ere they're mouldy
I wish—but heres the papers large & lusty
With speeches that full fifty times they've told ye
—Noble Lord John to sweet Miss Fanny Fusty

Is wed—a lie good reader I ne'er sold ye
—Prince Albert goes to Germany & must he
Leave the queens snuff box where all fools are strumming
From addled eggs no chickens can be coming

Whigs strum state fiddle strings untill they snap
With cuckoo cuckold cuckoo year by year
The razor plays it on the barbers strap
—The sissars grinder thinks it rather quere
That labour wont afford him ‘one wee drap’
Of ale or gin or half & half or beer
—I wish prince Albert & the noble dastards
Who wed the wives—would get the noble bastards

I wish prince Albert on his german journey
I wish the Whigs were out of office &
Pickled in law books of some good atorney
For ways & speeches few can understand
They'll bless ye when in power—in prison scorn ye
& make a man rent his own house & land—
I wish prince Alberts queen was undefiled
—& every man could get his wife with child

I wish the devil luck with all my heart
As I would any other honest body
His bad name passes bye me like a f---t
Stinking of brimstone—then like whisky toddy
We swallow sin which seems to warm the heart
—There's no imputing any sin to God—he
Fills hell with work—& is'n't it a hard case
To leave old whigs & give to hell the carcass

Me---b---ne may throw his wig to little Vicky
& so resign his humbug & his power
& she with the young princess mount the dickey
On ass milk diet for her german tour
Asses like ministers are rather tricky
I & the country proves it every hour
W---ll---gt---n & M---lb---n in their station
Coblers to queens—are phisic to the nation

These batch of toadstools on this rotten tree
Shall be the cabinet of any queen
Though not such coblers as her servants be
They're of Gods making—that is plainly seen
Nor red nor green nor orange—they are free
To thrive & flourish as the Whigs have been
But come tomorrow—like the Whigs forgotten
You'll find them withered stinking dead and rotten

Death is an awfull thing it is by God
I've said so often & I think so now
Tis rather droll to see an old wig nod
Then doze & die the devil don't know how
Odd things are wearisome & this is odd—
Tis better work then kicking up a row
I'm weary of old Whigs & old whigs heirs
& long been sick of teazing God with prayers

I've never seen the cow turn to a bull
I've never seen the horse become an ass
I've never seen an old brawn cloathed in whool—
But I have seen full many a bonny lass
& wish I had one now beneath the cool
Of these high elms—Muse tell me where I was
O—talk of turning I've seen Whig & Tory
Turn imps of hell—& all for Englands glory

I love good fellowship & wit & punning
I love ‘true love’ & God my taste defend
I hate most damnably all sorts of cunning—
I love the Moor & Marsh & Ponders end—
I do not like the song of ‘cease your funning’
I love a modest wife & trusty friend
—Bricklayers want lime as I want ryhme for fillups
—So here's a health to sweet Eliza Phillips

Song

Eliza now the summer tells
Of spots where love & beauty dwells
Come & spend a day with me
Underneath the forest tree
Where the restless water flushes

Over mosses mounds & rushes
& where love & freedom dwells
With orchis flowers & fox glove bells
Come dear Eliza set me free
& oer the forest roam with me

Here I see the morning sun
Among the beachtree's shadows run
That into gold the short sward turns
Where each bright yellow blossom burns
With hues that would his beams out shine
Yet nought can match those smiles of thine
I try to find them all the day
But none are nigh when thou'rt away
Though flowers bloom now on every hill
Eliza is the fairest still

The sun wakes up the pleasant morn
& finds me lonely & forlorn
Then wears away to sunny noon
The flowers in bloom the birds in tune
While dull & dowie all the year
No smiles to see no voice to hear
I in this forest prison lie
With none to heed my silent sigh
& underneath this beachen tree
With none to sigh for Love but thee

Now this new poem is entirely new
As wedding gowns or money from the mint
For all I know it is entirely true
For I would scorn to put a lie in print

—I scorn to lie for princes—so would you
& ere I shoot I try my pistol flint
—The cattle salesman—knows the way in trying
& feels his bullocks ere he thinks of buying

Lord bless me now the day is in the gloaming
& every evil thought is out of sight
How I should like to purchase some sweet woman
Or else creep in with my two wives to night—
Surely that wedding day is on the comeing
Abscence like phisic poisons all delight—
Mary & Martha both an evil omen
Though both my own—they still belong to no man

But to our text again—& pray where is it
Begin as parsons do at the beginning
Take the first line friend & you cannot miss it
‘Poets are born’ & so are whores for sinning
—Here's the court circular—o Lord is this it
Court cards like lists of—not the naked meaning
Here's Albert going to germany they tell us
& the young queen down in the dumps & jealous

Now have you seen a tramper on race courses
Seeking an honest penny as his trade is
Crying a list of all the running horses
& showing handbills of the sporting ladies
—In bills of fare you'll find a many courses
Yet all are innoscent as any maid is
Put these two dishes into one & dress it
& if there is a meaning—you may guess it

Don Juan was Ambassador from russia
But had no hand in any sort of tax
His orders hung like blossoms of the fushia
& made the ladies hearts to melt like wax
He knew Napoleon & the king of prusia
& blowed a cloud oer spirits wine or max
But all his profits turned out losses rather
To save one orphan which he forced to father

Theres Docter Bottle imp who deals in urine
A keeper of state prisons for the queen
As great a man as is the Doge of Turin
& save in London is but seldom seen
Yclep'd old A---ll---n—mad brained ladies curing
Some p---x---d like Flora & but seldom clean
The new road oer the forest is the right one
To see red hell & further on the white one

Earth hells or b---gg---r sh---ps or what you please
Where men close prisoners are & women ravished
I've often seen such dirty sights as these
I've often seen good money spent & lavished
To keep bad houses up for docters fees
& I have known a b---gg---rs tally travers'd
Till all his good intents began to falter
—When death brought in his bill & left the halter

O glorious constitution what a picking
Ye've had from your tax harvest & your tythe
Old hens which cluck about that fair young chicken
—Cocks without spurs that yet can crow so blythe

Truth is shut up in prison while ye're licking
The gold from off the gingerbread—be lythe
In winding that patched broken old state clock up
Playhouses open—but mad houses lock up

Give toil more pay where rank starvation lurches
& pay your debts & put your books to rights
Leave whores & playhouses & fill your churches
Old clovenfoot your dirty victory fights
Like theft he still on natures manor poaches
& holds his feasting on anothers rights
To show plain truth you act in bawdy farces
Men show their tools—& maids expose their arses

Now this day is the eleventh of July
& being sunday I will seek no flaw
In man or woman—but prepare to die
In two days more I may that ticket draw
& so may thousands more as well as I
To day is here—the next who ever saw
& In a madhouse I can find no mirth pay
—Next tuesday used to be Lord Byrons birthday

Lord Byron poh—the man wot rites the werses
& is just what he is & nothing more
Who with his pen lies like the mist disperses
& makes all nothing as it was before
Who wed two wives & oft the truth rehearses
& might have had some twenty thousand more
Who has been dead so fools their lies are giving
& still in Allens madhouse caged & living

100

If I do wickedness to day being sunday
Can I by hearing prayers or singing psalms
Clear off all debts twixt god & man on monday
& lie like an old hull that dotage calms
& is there such a word as Abergundy
I've read that poem called the ‘Isle of Palms’
—But singing sense pray tell me if I can
Live an old rogue & die an honest man

I wish I had a quire of foolscap paper
Hot pressed—& crowpens—how I could endite
A silver candlestick & green wax taper
Lord bless me what fine poems I would write
The very tailors they would read & caper
& mantua makers would be all delight
Though laurel wreaths my brows did ne'er environ
I think myself as great a bard as Byron

I have two wives & I should like to see them
Both by my side before another hour
If both are honest I should like to be them
For both are fair & bonny as a flower
& one o Lord—now do bring in the tea mem
Were bards pens steamers each of ten horse power
I could not bring her beautys fair to weather
So I've towed both in harbour blest together

Now i'n't this canto worth a single pound
From anybodys pocket who will buy
As thieves are worth a halter I'll be bound
Now honest reader take the book & try

101

& if as I have said it is not found
I'll write a better canto bye & bye
So reader now the money till unlock it
& buy the book & help to fill my pocket

103

BODLEIAN MANUSCRIPT DC 64 AND PETERBOROUGH MANUSCRIPT A 62

[Tis martinmass from rig to rig]

Tis martinmass from rig to rig
Ploughed fields & meadow lands are blea
In hedge & field each restless twig
Is dancing on the naked tree
Flags in the dykes are bleached & brown
Docks by its sides are dry & dead
All but the ivy bows are brown
Upon each leaning dotterels head

Crimsoned with awes the awthorns bend
Oer meadow dykes & rising floods
The wild geese seek the reedy fen
& dark the storm comes oer the woods
The crowds of lapwings load the air
With buzes of a thousand wings
There flocks of starnels too repair
When morning oer the valley springs

104

[So let us all be jolly]

So let us all be jolly
& laugh off melancholly
For grieving is a folly
Within the life of man
Then push about the joram
Leave the glass of joy before 'em
& mirth make up the quoram
We'll be happy if we can

[My heart my dear Mary from thee cannot part]

My heart my dear Mary from thee cannot part
But the sweetest of pleasure that joy can impart
Is nought to the memory of thee

[His face is like a dragon]

His face is like a dragon
His a---se is like a frog
At heart a mere piegon
In manner quite a hog

105

BIBLICAL PARAPHRASES

ISRAEL PASSING OVER THE RED SEA

the Lord He Has Triumphed His People Are Free
The Horse & The Tyrant Are Whelmed In The Sea

[In Jacob he hath not seen evil or guile]

In Jacob he hath not seen evil or guile
Nor in Israel perversness his truth to defile
Their Lord & their God these good tidings doth bring
& behold in their camps are the shouts of a king
God brought them from Egypt from bondage & ill
& he is as strong as a unicorn still
There is no enchantment can Jacob alarm
& Israel there's no divinations to harm
Of Jacob & Israel said it shall be
What hath God wrought that his people are free
Behold like a lion the people shall rise
& like a young lion the nations surprise
He shall not lie down till he eat of the prey
& drink of the blood of the slain in his way
Balak said unto Balaam I see they are free
Neither curse them nor bless them but hearken to me

106

Balaam answered Balak have I not swore
That what the Lord said I must do & no more?
Then Balak to Balaam—come with me I pray thee
Peradventure 't'will please God to curse them for thee
Then he took him toward Jeshimon, to the top of mount peor
& built seven altars as wont' said the seer
Seven bullocks & rams for the Lord are requir'd
& Balak did all that the prophet desired

BALAAMS PARABLE SECOND PART

NUMBERS CHAP 24th

& when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord well
To bless them—he sought not enchantment or spell
But he turned to the wilderness loved in his youth
Where nature & God live in silence & truth
& Balaam he cast up his eyes & again
Saw Israel abideing in tents on the plain
& the spirit of God came upon him like dew
& his parable then did the prophet pursue
Balaam hath said the offspring of Beor
& the man whose eyes have been open'd saith here
Who heard in the words of the Lord & who saw
Visions of th'almighty in tremblings & awe

107

Who fell in a trance but his eyes where unclosed
How goodly thy tents are O Jacob disposed
As beautifull valleys spread forth far & wide
As gardens like eden by th'rivers green side
As trees of lign aloes which God as the giver
Did plant—& as cedars beside the green river
He shall pour water out of his buckets—his seed
Shall be in the waters to flourish & speed
His king shall be higher then Agag in power
& his kingdom exalted in glory & dower
God brought him from Egypt—he hath as it were
The strength of a unicorn—terror & fear
Shall eat up the nations—his enemies all
Break their bones & with arrows pierced through they shall fall
He couched—he lay down as a lion at lair
As a great lion who shall compeat with him there
He who so blesseth Gods people is blest
& cursed is he who shall injure their rest
Then Balak being wrath with the Seer of the Lord
Smote both hands together in anger unawed
Saying I called thee to curse them through nations & climes
& behold thou hast blessed them three seperate times
Now flee thee therefore to thy place from this hour
I thought to promote thee to honour & power
But thy God keeps thee back from all honours desert
So flye to his refuge & quickly depart
Then Balaam to Balak spoke fearless in thrall
Did I not say to thy messengers all
If Balak would let me his riches behold
& give me his house full of silver & gold
I cannot so wrong the commands of the Lord
To do good or ill of my feeble accord
But what the Lord showeth me that will I seek
& what my God biddeth me that will I speak

108

& now lo! I go to my people again
Come & I'll show thee—then language more plain
What this people here which my blessings must praise
Shall do to thy people in strifes latter days
& he took up his parable justly & clear
Saying Balaam the prophet the offspring of Beor
Who fell in a trance & yet having his eyes
Open to visions that gleamed in the skies
Do I not speak the most high in my voice
Are they not the almighty's his chosen & choice
I shall see him anon but not now with my eyes
& I shall behold him anon but not nigh
Out of Jacob a star shall illumine the skies
A Sceptre from Israel shall flourish & rise
& smite all the corners of moab with strife
& destroy all the childern of Sheth to the life
& Edom shall be a possesion & Seir
Shall be a possesion for enemies near
& Israel shall do valiant deeds for their dower
Out of Jacob comes he with dominion & power
To destroy him that yet in the city remains
& prosper the freedom of mountains & plains
& when he had looked over Amaleck—he
Took up his parable justly & free
Amaleck first of all nations—the giver
Of life dooms thy end that thou perish forever
& he looked on the Kenites not caring to mock
Saying strong is thy place like a nest in the rock
Nevertheless Kenites shall fail in that day

109

& Ashur shall carry them captives away
& he took up his parable—nothing to miss
Alas who shall live when my God doeth this
Ships come from Chittim in islet & river
T'affect Ashur—& Ebor shall perish for ever
& Balaam arose to his place on that day
& Balak he also sojourned on his way

SONG OF DEBORAH

In The War Days Of Shamgar Of Anath & Jael
When The High Ways Were Leveled & Hamlets Laid Low
& Every Heart Seemed In Its Courage To Fail
& Sought Out The Bye Ways In Fear Of The Foe

The Inhabitants Ceased In Each Village To Dwell
Desolation Drove Comfort From Mountain & Plain
Till I Even Deborah Rose To Foretell
That God Would Unite With His Chosen Again

110

They Chose Them New Gods With Presumption Elate
Forty Thousand In Israel Without Shield Or Spear
Their False Hearted Foemen Hurled War At The Gates
& The Gods Of Their Choice Were Unable To Hear

With The Rulers Of Israel My Heart Would Agree
Who Offered To Serve In The Troops Of The Lord
& Joined With The People To Fall Or Be Free
They Blessed The True God & Met Truth In His Word

Bless Ye The Lord Who Brought Comfort & Peace
Speak Ye That Ride On White Asses & Say
How The God Of Our Sires Brought His People Release
Yet Sit Down in Judgement To Show The Right Way

Now They're Delivered From Archers & War
At The Wells Where The Joyous Draw Water & sing
Where Fear Heard The Noise Of The Archers Afar
& Death Often Crimsoned The Clear Flowing Spring

There Shall They Sing In The Praise Of The Lord
There Shall They Herd & Draw Water In Peace
Each Village Agen Shall Its Comforts Afford
& War In The Valleys Of Israel Shall Cease

The People Of God Shall Go down To The Gate
Awake Awake Deborah Waken & Sing
Lead Captivity Captive Thou Barak Too Great
Is Israel For Chuseing The Lord For Their King

Then Him That Remaineth right constant & true
He Made Have Dominion Oer Nobles & peers
The Lord He Made Me Have dominion & Shew
To Govern the Mighty nor hearken to Fears

111

Out Of Ephraim was there even a root
Went out against Amalek faceing the foe
After Benjamin Thou That wert swifter of foot
& Thy People to join were not tardy Or slow

Out of Machir Came Governers ready to Serve
Out of Zebulun they that could handle the Pen
The princes of Issacah They That Deserve
The protection of God & the praises of men

Barak went down To The valley on foot
While Deborah led forward & cheared on the fray
But for Reuben's divisions the soldiers was smote
There was great thought of heart on that terrible day

Why abide in the sheepfold to hear the flocks bleat
For Reubens divisions looks searched in the heart
None breathed a word or a wish to retreat
Would Israel from God in her troubles depart

Gilead abode beyond Jordan away
Why did Dan in his ships on the ocean retire
On the seashore there Asher continued to stay
& abode in his breeches

But Zebulim Naphtali people of might
They jeoperded life unto Death on that day
In all the high places & field of the fight
They fought like the tiger devouring the prey

The Kings came & fought in the strength of his word
Kings of Canaan in Taanach arose like the sun
They took gain nor money in wars of the Lord
By the waters [of] Megiddo battled & won

112

Heaven fought in the cause whom the wicked disdain
The stars in their courses—the water & flood
All fought against Sisera—tempest & rain
& God drowned His anger in slaughter & blood

The old stream of Kishon it swept them away
That ancient of streams all its banks overflowed
O my soul thou hast trodden down strength on that day
For the strongest hearts quail in the strength of the Lord

The horse hoofs were broken with pranceing & maimed
The pranceings of mighty ones foiled in their toils
Their strength was exhausted their swiftness was lamed
& the Lord oer his people in victory smiles

Then the Angel of God in his vengance & ire
Uttered curses on Meroz & dwellers therein
Curse Meroz he said in a language of fire
Curse ye bitterly Meroz because of their sin

They fought not nor came to the help of the Lord
Where numbers & strength would his people oppose
To the Lord they would aid or assistance afford
When the pride of the mighty came down as their foes

But blessed be Jael & the kindred of Jael
Wife of Heber the Kenite whose courage was true
For blest above women—her heart did not fail
When the foe of the [OMITTED] lay [OMITTED]

He asked for water—she offered him milk
& brought him forth butter & bade him to eat
Sleep fell oer his weariness softer then silk
& eden seemed spreading her rest at his feet

113

But her hand she put forth to the hammer & nail
& pierced the proud head of her foe to the earth
At Her feet he bowed down & in death he turned pale
& lay like a shade without being or breath

The Mother of Sisera looked from her tower
& cried through the lattice ‘Where, where can he stay
Why tarry the wheels of his chariots & power
Have they not sped & divided the prey

Her wise Ladies answered her eagerness—yea
She answered herself in the heaves of her heart
Have they not sped & divided the prey
To each man of spoils & of maidens a part

A prey of rich needlework took in the spoils
To Sisera the chief of the army—my son
A prey of rich colours rewarding the toils
& meet for the necks of the victors who won

Let all that love God be as bright as the sun
In the might of the morn & in goodness accord
Forty years the land rested when freedom was won—
So let all thine enemies perish O Lord

DAVIDS LAMENT &c

The Beauty Of Israel Is Fallen Away,
Her Walls Are In Ruins, Her Heroes Are Slain!
Her Lands Are Become To The Spoiler A Prey
& Her Daughters May Weep For The Mighty In Vain

114

Tell Not The Defeat In The City Of Gath
In The Streets Of Proud Askelon Breathe Not The Name
Philistia's Fair Daughters Will Triumph In Mirth
& Bring The Pale Daughters of Judah To Shame

Let Not The Uncircumcised Triumph Aloud
Let No Dews On Thy Mountains Gilboa Be Shed
Nor The Rain On Thy Herbage Descend From The Cloud
Since The King & His People Are Fallen & Dead

Saul Fell In His Strength Like A Weed By The Way
As Though He Had Ne'er Been Anointed To Reign
Yet Jonathan's Bow Turned Not Back From The Fray
& Sauls Sword Was Red With The Blood Of The Slain

Saul & Jonathan They Were Both Lovely & Strong
They Were Pleasant In Life In Defeat They Were Brave
More Swift Than the Eagles Then Lions More Strong
& In Death Undivided Both Went To The Grave

Weep Daughters Of Israel Weep Over Saul
Who Cloathed You In Scarlet Most Fair To Behold
With Other Delights That Your Loves May Recall
& Enriched Your Apparel With Silver & Gold

The Mighty Are Fallen The Battle Is Oer
O Jonathan Thou In Thy Places Was Slain
I'm Distressed For Thee Brother But All Is No More
& Mourning The Fallen Is Weeping In Vain

Thy Talk Was So Pleasant When Friendship Was Won
Thy Faith E'en The Love Of All Women Surpassed
But The Mighty Are Fallen The Battle Is Done
& The Weapons Of War Even Perished At Last

115

DAVIDS PRAYER

Who am I my God & my Lord
& what is my house in thy eye
Thou hast brought me here of thy sovereign accord
& cloathed me in majesty

Yet this was a trifling thing unto thee
Thou hast spoke of thy servant whose house is to last
Like a man of estate & of noble degree
O God though in lowness his lot hath been cast

What can David speak more unto thee
For the honour of thy servant—or need
For thou knowest thy servant was of humble degree
& exaltest him highly indeed

O Lord for thy servants sake only
Hath thou done all this greatness to me
According to thy own heart thou blessed me once lonely
For all these great things are of thee

O Lord there is none beside thee
No other God living but thou
According to all that we hear or we see
From our beings beginning 'till now

There is no God but one—on the land or the sea
According to all we have heard with our ears
What nation is like to thy people now free
Israel redeemed of the Lord in their fears

116

God went to redeem them & make them a name
Of greatness & terribleness—even like thee
Driveing out nations from before them like flame
The redeemed from proud Egypt—who conquored the sea

For Israel thy people thou madest thine own
& thou Lord became their own God e'en as mine
Let the thing thou hast spoke of thy servant be done
& his house be established forever as thine

Do as thou hast said—be of goodness the giver
Let it even be established o Lord as thy will
That thy name may be magnified now & forever
& the true God be God of all Israel still

& a God to all Israel now & for aye
& the house of king David be established of thee
For thou o my God told thy servant that day
Thou wouldst build him a house—even so let it be

Therefore thy servant hath found in his heart
To pray before thee—& he knows from his soul
Thou art God & has promised thy love to impart
To thy servant as long as the seasons shall roll

The house of thy servant let it please thee to bless
That it may be before thee the boon & the giver
All nature & life doth thy bounty confess
& all that thou blesseth—is blessed & forever

117

SOLOMONS PRAYER &c &c

Then said Solomon the Lord hath made known
He would dwell in thick darkness with nature alone
But I've built an house where faith bows the knee
& built up a grand habitation for thee
& made thee a place for thy dwelling forever
There thy mercey may rest & thy love never sever
& the king turned his face & blessed while he turned
The whole congregation that hither sojourned
He blest them forever for God & his good
& the whole congregation of Israel stood
& he said blessed be God of Israel the Lord
Who hath with his hands fullfilled his own word
That he spake unto David my father & said
‘Since the day that I brought forth my people from dread
‘From Egypt & bondage no city was named
‘In the tribes of all Israel no dwelling proclaimed
‘To build me an house that my name might be there
‘Nor chose I a king for their comfort or care
‘But my name now shall dwell in fair Jerusalem
‘& David I've chosen as king over them’
Now it was in the heart of my father to raise
A house for the Lord whom all Israel should praise
But the Lord to my Father this thing did proclaim
As it was in thy heart to build an house to my name
As it was in thine heart to do so thou didst well
But thou shalt not build the house where my mercey shall dwell
Yet my mercey shall live & the thing shall be done
By the offspring that comes from thy loins & thy son
So the Lord hath performed all the words he hath spoken
& fulfilled all he vowed to my Father unbroken

118

For I'm set up as King upon Davids high throne
& have built up a house to Jehovah alone
& the ark of the covenant stands in its shade
Which God with the childern of Israel made
By the alter of God in thy presence Israel
He spread forth his hands in true worship & zeal
A scaffold of brass made King Solomon there
The height three cubits & five cubits square
In the midst of the court great Jehovah to please
& upon it he stood & then kneeled on his knees
Before the whole congregation whom God had forgiven
& spread forth his hands in the presence of heaven
& said O Lord God of all Israel—forgiven
There is no God like thee in the earth or the heaven
Who keepests thy covenant truth as thy own
& still to thy servants thy mercey is shown
While still they will walk with their whole hearts before thee
Thou who crownest David my Father with glory
Thou promised my Father & made it to stand
& spak'st with thy mouth & fullfilled with thy hand
Thou hast kept every promise nor took none away
But all are fullfilled as it is on this day
Now therefore God almighty of Israel the Lord
Still keep with David my father thy word
The promise thou made him saying that which is right
& ‘there shall not fail thee a man in my sight
To sit over Israels great people & throne
So thy childern take heed to the law as my own
To walk in the way as I've laid before thee
In my law as thou hitherto hast before me
Now then God of Israel their being & Lord
Verifye that thou hast spoken—thy word
With David thy servant—O speak it agen
But will God in deed make his dwelling with men
On the earth will our prayers & petitions so gain thee
When the heaven of heavens hath not room to contain thee
How much less this temple which now I have built
Though the earth with thy love & thy glory is gilt

119

Therefore have respect to thy servant his prayer
Let not supplications be vapour & air
O Lord God almighty do list to the cry
Of thy servant who prays to his maker on high
Thou God of all Israel before thee I pray
That thy eyes may look over this house night & day
On the place of Jehovah the glory of fame
On the place thou hast chose as the house of thy name
& harken & heed as a symbol of grace
To the prayer which thy servant now prays to this place
Hear thou from thy dwelling place even in heaven
& hearing O Lord let our sins be forgiven
If a man sin against his neighbour—almighty forbear
& an oath be laid on him to make him to swear
& the oath to this house on thy alter they bring
Then hear thou from heaven & do the just thing
By requiteing the wicked doing justice to all
On his own head let the wickeds own reccompense fall
Justifying the righteous—his ways to approve
& giving his righteousness—mercey & love
If Israel get worse & from enemies flee
Because they have sinned against goodness & thee
& again shall confess thy great name & return
& make in this house supplication & mourn
Then hear thou from heaven & evil forgive
In Israel thy people that mercey may live
& bring them again like a wreck to the strand
To the place which thou gav'st them their fathers own land
When the heavens shut up have no season of rain
Because they have sinned against thee—once again
Yet if they turn toward this place & pray
& confess thy great name & return from their way
When thou dost afflict them—in mercy believe
Then hear thou from heaven o Lord & forgive

120

The sins of thy people & Israel shall know
The good way wherein thou hast taught them to go
On their land of inheritance scatter thy rain
& the land & thy people shall flourish again
If there be pestilence blastings & dearth
& mildews & locusts spreading deserts oer earth
If their enemies come & lay cities in thrall
& sickness & sores threaten death over all
Then what prayer soever by man shall be made
Or of thy people Israel when wronged & affraid
When every one knows his own grief to proclaim
& spreads forth his hands in this house to thy name
Then hear thou from heaven thy own dwelling place
& render to every man blessings & grace
According to truth do thou raise them agen
For thou knowest the hearts of the childern of men
Which thou gave to our fathers our birthright to be—
That they may fear thee & walk in thy ways
So long as they live in the land of thy praise
Moreover conscerning the stranger with thee
Which is not of Israel but come from afar
For thy great name & justice in peace or in war
For thy hand that's almighty & outstre[tc]hed arm
If they pray in this house—do thou keep them from harm
Then hear from the heavens thy dwelling on high
To the strangers petition do thou heed & reply
Though a stranger may plead do thou grant his request
That the people of earth may believe thee as best
As Israel doth know of thy goodness & fame
& may know that this temple is called by thy name
If thy people go out to thy enemies far
In the way that thy guideance shall send them to war
& their prayers unto thee towards this city proclaim
Towards the place & the house I have built for thy name

121

Then hear from the heavens—petitions & prayers
& mentain thy own cause in thy peoples affairs
If they should sin against goodness & thee
For there is not a man that from sin is all free
& thou in thy anger sends strifes roughest waves
& deliver'st them up to their foemen as slaves
& they carry them captives in terror & fear
To lands & strange countrys far off or near
Yet should they bethink them whose childern they are
While they are captives & pray to thee there
In the midst of captivity saying aright
‘That we have dealt wickedly Lord in thy sight’
If to thee they return with their soul & their heart
In the land of captivity—thither thou art
Although they are captives let them pray towards their land
& the citys to stay the dread wrath of thy hand
The land of their fathers great Lord & thy fame
& toward the house I have built for thy name
Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place—hear
Their prayers, supplications, & terrible fear
Forgive thy own people & dwell in their cause
& bring them once more to their land & thy laws
& though they have sinned before thee let them live
The erring restore before thee &—forgive
Let thine eyes Lord be open in mercey & grace
& attend to the prayer that is made in this place
Arise o Lord God in thy resting place—thou
Let thy priests o Lord God as before thee they bow
Be cloathed with salvation thy mercies to prove
& thy saints all rejoice in thy goodness & love
From th'face of thine anointed Lord turn not away
But remember the mercies of David for aye

122

JOB—38th CHAP: 1st PART

Then God half angered ansered Job aright
Out of the wirlwind & the darkening storm
‘Who darkeneth counsil thus & argues wrong
‘By words without all knowledge vague & void
‘Gird up thy loins now like a man—for I
‘Demand of thee—& answer me aright
‘Where wast thou mortal when I formed & laid
‘Foundations of the earth & sea—declare
‘If thou hast understanding think & speak
‘Who hath the measures laid & knowest thou
‘Or who hath stretched the line upon its base
‘Whereon are earths foundations fastened—say
‘Or who hath planned & laid the corner stone
When all the morning stars together sang
& all the sons of God did shout for joy
Or who as if with doors shut up the sea
When it break forth as issuing from the womb
When I made its garments of the racking clouds
& wrapt thick darkness as its swaddling bands
& brake up for it my decreed abode
& set up bars & doors to keep it staid
& said here shalt thou come not further
& here shalt thy proud waves be staid
Hast thou commanded morning since thy days
& caused the bright day spring to know its place
That it might hold on earths extreemest ends
& the wicked might be shaken out therefrom
It is turned as clay into the seal

123

& they stand as garments cloathing it with light
Their light from wickedness is still withheld
& the high arm is broken in its might
Hast thou entered in the ocean springs
Or walked in search of the unfathomed deeps
Hath death his gates e'er opened unto thee
Or shown the shadows of eternal sleep
Hast thou percieved the breadth of earth or space
If thou knowest all or part thereof—declare
Where is the way wherein the light may dwell
& as for darkness where doth it repose
That thou should'st take it to the bound thereof
& know the paths that leadeth to its home
Knowest thou as much because thou wast then born
Or since because thy numbered days was great
Hast thou entered the palace of the snow
Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail
Which for the time of trouble I reserve
Against the day of battle & of war
By what way is light parted—knowest thou
Which scattereth oer the earth the eastern wind
For the overflow of waters who divides
A channel & a course that it may speed
Who guides forked lightenings through the sultry sky
& gives the thunder terrors shuddering voice
To cause the rain on spots where no man is
On wildered wastes where no man cares to dwell
To satisfy the waste & desolate ground
& cause the bud to blossom there in spring
Hath the rain a father—silence—speak
Or who begets the drops of morning dew
Out of whose womb cometh the chilly ice
& the heavens hoar frost who gendered can[s]t thou tell
The waters are hidden as beneath a stone
& the face of the deep is frozen like a rock
The influences of Pleiades canst thou bind
Or loosen Orions belt—canst thou bring forth
Nazzaroth in his season or yet guide

124

Arcturus with his sons—man knowest thou
The ordinances of heaven—canst thou set
The dominion thereof in earth—let silence speak
Canst thou lift up thy voice to clouds & sky
& bid the rain in waters cover thee
Canst thou send lightenings forth that they may go
& answer ‘here we are’—say who hath put
Wisdom in the inward parts & who hath given
Prime understanding to the beating heart
Who can number in wisdom heavens host of clouds
Or the bottles of heaven who can stay
When the clods cleave fast together & the dust
Groweth hard as a rock—can mortals hunt
Prey for the Lion or the lions whelps
When hid in dens or in the coverts couched
They lie in wait for prey—& who provides
The raven with his food—his young ones cry
To God & wander for the lack of meat

JOB CHAP. 39

Knowest thou the time when wild goats breed
On rocks—or mark when the swift hinds calve
Canst thou number the months that they fulfill
Or know the time when they bring forth their young
They bow themselves in travail & bring forth

125

& cast out their fond sorrows on the hills
Their young ones are the image of themselves
They grow up with corn go forth & not return
Who hath sent out the wild ass free or who
Hath loosed his weary bonds—whose house I made
The wilderness—his home the barren land
The multitudes of citys are his scorn
Neither regardeth he the drivers cry
His free born pasture is the mountain range
His search is after every thing thats green
Will Unicorns thy slaving voice obey
Or by thy crib abide—or in the glebe
Bind him to trace the furrow—or will he
Harrow the fertile valley after thee
Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great
Or wilt thou leave thy labour to his will
Wilt thou trust him to garner up thy seed
& gather home thine harvest to the barn
Gavest thou the peacocks tail his purple gold
Or wings & feathers to the ostrich tribe
Who leaveth her eggs on the earth to hatch
Warming them in the dust—forgetting that
The foot may crush or wild beast break their shells
Against her young ones she is hard & strange
As though they were not hers—her labour is
In vain withouten fear—God hath deprived
Her heart of reason—understanding lacks
To aid her toils—yet when she soars on high
She scorns both horse & rider in her flight
Hast thou given the horse his strength or cloathed
His neck with thunder—canst thou make him fear
& flee like a grasshopper—the glory

126

Of his nostrils is fierce & terrible
He paweth the ground in strength rejoiceing
& goeth onward to meet the battle
He scorns to be affraid & mocks at fear
Neither turneth he away from the sword
Against him the loaded quiver rattles
The glittering spear & the burnished shield
& his untamed fierceness swallows the ground
Neither heeds he the sound of the trumpet
He drives among the trumpets & laugheth ah ah
& the rage of battle he smelleth afar
The thunder of captains & shoutings of war
Doth thy weak wisdom teach the hawk to flye
& stretch her wings toward the southern sky
At thy command doth eagles mount & make
Their nests on high—their erie is the rock
In the strong place & on the rocky crag
From thence their prey is noted & their eyes
Beholdeth far—her young ones suck up blood
& where the slain is—there the eagles flye

JOB CHAP 40

Moreover God answered Job & said
Shall he who contends with God instruct him
He that reproveth God—let man reprove
Then Job made answer Lord behold I'm vile
What shall I answer thee—my voice is dumb
I lay my hand upon my mouth & fear
Once have I spoken but I answer not

127

Nay twice—nor further dare I now proceed
Then out of the fierce whirlwind & the storm
The Lord he answered fearfull Job & spake
‘Gird up thy loins again & like a man—
I will demand of thee—declare & speak
Wilt thou my judgments disannul & me
Condemn as wrong—that thou mayst righteous be
Is thine the power—hast thou an arm like God
Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him
Thyself with excellence & majesty array
With glory & with beauty deck thyself
& cast abroad thy rage of viewless ire
Behold the proud abase him with thy wrath—
Around look on the proud & bring him low
Tread underfoot the wicked in their place
Together hide them in degrading dust
& bind their faces under secret thralls
Then will I also unto thee confess
That thy right hand & arm thy self can save
Behold Behemoth which I made with thee
He eateth grass as doth the ox—lo now
His strength is in his loins his force & power
Is in the navel of his belly—moving now
His tail like to a cedar—his sinewed stones
Are wrapt together—his bones are strong as brass
Aye firm unflinching all as iron bars
Chief of Gods ways is he—he that made him
Can make his sword to pierce him & destroy
The mountains surely bring him forth his food
Where all the beast o'th' field do herd & play
Coverts of shady trees do make his lair
In the reed forests of the untrodden fens
The shady trees doth cover him with shadow

128

& willow brooks encompass him with shade
Behold he drinks a river in his thirst
& trusts to swallow Jordan in his mouth
He takes it with his eyes in thirsty draughts
& his nose pierces through the hidden snares

JOB 41 CHAP

Canst thou with hooks Leviathan draw out
Or with a chord let down amidst the deep
Canst thou put hooks into his mountain nose
Or bore his jaw through with a feeble thorn
Will he to thee a supplication make
Or speak soft words to make a friend of thee
Will he with thee make covenant—or thou
Make him for aye thy servant or thy slave
Wilt thou as with a bird play with his strength
Or bind him for thy maidens sportive smiles
Shall thy companions banquet on his flesh
Or part him among merchants for rich gain
Or canst thou fill his skin with barbed hooks
Or pierce his island of a head with spears
Lay thy hand on him & the battle fear
Remember thou the strife & do no more
Thy hopes of him behold are all in vain
Shall not one at his sight be soon cast down

129

To stir him up theres none so fierce to dare
Who then is able by my power to stand
Who hath prevented that I should repay
All under the whole heavens lives as mine
His parts & powers I will not consceal
His great proportions & his jiant powers
The facing of his garment who can see
Or with his double bridle tamper him
The doors of his face who can unlock
His teeth stand round as terrible as death
His scales they are his pride shut up secure
From mortal eye as is a closed seal
One to another joins the common air
Comes not between them—nor a passage finds
They stick & join & sundering is in vain
He neeses & a splendid light doth shine
His eyes are like the mornings bright & fair
Out of his mouth breath comes like burning lamps
& issuing sparks leap out as living fire
His nostrils as a boiling chaldron smokes
His breath is kindled coals—& terrors flames
Come issuing from his mouth in terrors play
In's neck like to a mountain strength remains
& sorrow before him is turned to joy
His flakes of flesh join firm within themselves
& fast as is the mountain cant be moved
His heart is like the stone of adamant
Nay as the nether mill stone firm & hard
When he is roiled the mighty are affraid
When he breaks forth they purifye themselves
The sword assailing him will never hold
The dark harbergeon or glittering spear
Iron is straw & brass as rotten wood
The arrow neither makes him fear or flee
Sling stones are stubble aiming at his power

130

Darts count as rotten straw & are no more
He laugheth at the shaking of a spear
Sharp stones are under him he heeds them not
He spreads sharp pointed things upon the mire
The sea beneath him like a chaldron boils
& like a pot of oil or ointment shines
& after him a path of light shines far
One thinks the sea all hoary where he swims
Earth owns nought like him made without a fear
High things are open to his mountain view
King over all the childern brutes of pride

[_]

[Pet. MS A62 version:]

Canot thou draw out Leveathon
With an hook or a chord
Which thou lettest down
—Like the breath of a word

Canst thou put a hook in his nose
Or bore through his jaw with a thorn
Will he supplicate unto thee
Man to him is as mist in the morn

Unto thee will he speak in soft words
Or a covenant make up with thee
To him seas scarce a lodging affords
Wilt thou take him thy servant to be

Wilt thou play with his strength as a bird
Or bind him thy maidens to please
Shall thy friends make a banquet of him
That monarch & king of the seas

131

Shall they sell him to merchants for gain
Whose life like an island moves on
Canst thou fill his head with fish spears on the main
Do but strike & thy strength it is gone

Lay on him thine hand do no more
Remember the battle & strife
Behold him thy hope is no more
The sight of him dangers thy life

None are so fierce that dare stir him to strife
This monster & king of the sea
Then how can a man the mere shadow of life
Be able to stand before me

Who hath served me with the justice & truth
That I should repay him with favours divine
Whatsoever exists upon earth & in sooth
The whole that the heavens containeth are mine

PSALM 19

The heavens his wonderous works declare
The firmament his power
His handyworks are written there
Through every day & hour

132

Day unto day in language speaks
Night unto night will shine
In knowledge—& all language reads
& hears that voice divine

Their line & words through all the earth
Hath all the world oer run
His tabernacle there hath birth
A dwelling for the sun

As a bridegroom from his chamber comes
He shows his shineing face
Rejoiceing as the season blooms
As a strong man runs a race

His going forth is from the end
& to the end of heaven
His circuit shines on every land
Where his rays of life are given

The law of God a perfect law
Converts the soul & tries
Gods testimonies all are pure
& makes the simple wise

The statutes of the Lord are sure
The heart rejoiceing still
The Lords comandments they are pure
My eyes with love they fill

133

The fear of God is clean & pure
Endureing still forever
The judgments of the Lord are sure
& righteous as the giver

& more to be desired are they
Then gold can e'er become
More sweeter then the honey jar
Or e'en the honeycomb

Their stedfast truth thy servant warms
Their faith is his regard
In keeping them my being earns
A safe & sure reward

Who can his errors understand
Cleanse me from secret faults
Keep back thy servant in thy hands
That he nor fails nor halts

Let no presumtious sins e'er have
Dominion over me
Then shall I meet a welcome grave
Or live upright with thee

Of vile transgressions great & small
Lord keep me innoscent
Then shalt thou hear my conscience call
& know my good intent

The meditations of my heart
Lord keep them all with thee
Let all the words my thoughts impart
With thy own sanction be

134

Do thou accept me e'er I fall
By thy avenging rod
My strength my hope my life my all
& my redeeming God

PSALM 91

He that dwelleth in the secret place
Of God the great & high
Beneath the shadow of his grace
In quiet peace shall lie

The Lord my lasting friend shall be
He is my refuge still
The fortress of my cares is he
& trust in God I will

Surely from the fowlers snare
He shall deliver thee
& from the noisesome pestilence
Still keep thee pure & free

His truth shall shield & buckler give
When hell its vengance flings
Beneath his feathers thou shalt live
& his defending wings

Nights terrors all shall flee away
Nor fears thy soul alarm
The arrows that are shot by day
Shall do thy life no harm

135

From pestilence that walks by night
Thy dwelling shall be free
Destruction that at noon shall blight
Shall never injure thee

A thousand by thy side shall fall
Ten thousand by thy hand
But nought shall bring thee into thrall
While God thy friend shall stand

Thou shalt behold it with thine eyes
The wicked's sure reward
Because the Lord thy refuge lies
Thy house is Gods regard

No evil thou shalt meet at large
No plague thy dwelling rase
For he shall give his angels charge
To keep thee all thy days

Thee they shall bear up in their hands
Nor leave thee all alone
Lest thou should'st dash in troubles lands
Thy foot against a stone

Thou shalt tread on the Lions main
& crush the adders crown
Young Lions by thy foot be slain
That tramples Dragons down

Because on me he sets his love
I'll keep his heart from shame
I'll set him high all foes above
Because he knows my name

136

On me his inward love shall call
In care I'll bring relief
I'll answer him in every thrall
& honour his belief

With length of life & honours too
Him I will satisfye
To him salvation will I shew
When troubles days are bye

PSALM 97

The earth reigneth now earth is green in his smiles
Let gladness extend through her hundreds of isles
Clouds & darkness are round him almighty & lone
& truths righteous judgments inhabit his throne
A fire goes before him that never burns out
That burns up his enemies round & about
His thunders & lightenings blazon the world
The earth saw & trembled where ruin was hurled
Where the Lord of the earth in his majesty sped
Hills melted like wax in his presence & fled
The heavens his righteousness prove every hour
& all people see both his glory & power
Worship him all ye Gods & confounded be they
Who serve graven images beings of clay
Zion saw & was glad at the voice of his word
Judahs Daughters rejoiced in thy judgments O Lord
The Lord oer the earth is exalted & high

137

Far above all the Gods is his home in the sky
Hate evil ye people whose love is the Lord
He preserveth his saints by the truth of his word
He delivereth from evil & bondage & thrall
From the hand of the wicked he saveth them all
For the righteous the light of his mercey is sown
To the up right of heart all his gladness is shown
Ye righteous rejoice in the Lord all your days
To the memory of his holiness offer your praise

[Lord hear my prayer when trouble glooms]

Lord hear my prayer when trouble glooms
Let sorrow find a way
& when the day of trouble comes
Turn not thy face away
My bones like hearth stones burn away
My life like vapoury smoke decays

My heart is smitten like the grass
That withered lies & dead
& I so lost to what I was
Forget to eat my bread
My voice is groaning all the day
My bones prick through this skin of clay

The wildernesses pelican
The deserts lonely owl
I am their like a desert man
In ways as lone & foul
As sparrows on the cottage top
I wait till I with faintness drop

138

I bear my enemies reproach
All silently I mourn
They on my private peace encroach
Against me they are sworn
Ashes as bread my trouble shares
& mix my food with weeping cares

Yet not for them is sorrows toil
I fear no mortals frown
But thou hast held me up awhile
& thou hast cast me down
My days like shadows waste from view
I mourn like withered grass in dew

But thou Lord shalt endure forever
All generations through
Thou shalt to Zion be the giver
Of joy & mercey too
Her very stones are in their trust
Thy servants reverence her dust

Heathens shall hear & fear thy name
All kings of earth thy glory know
When thou shalt build up Zions fame
& live in glory there below
He'll not despise their prayers though mute
But still regard the destitute

139

[He harmonized darkness to night & repose]

He harmonized darkness to night & repose
When the beast of the forest creep forth as our foes
After their prey the young Lions are roaring
Seeking meat from the God of all nature's adoring
They gather together at rise of the sun
& hide in their dens when his bounty is won
Man goeth to work as the morning sun smiles
& labours till eve brings release to his toils
How manifold Lord are thy works & thy power
Thou has made all in wisdom both forest & flower
The earth it is full of thy riches & good
So is this great ocean & fathomless flood
Where small & great beasts of a wonderfull size
In numberless numbers our fancys surprise
Things creeping & swimming in harmonized strife
& there go the ships like to phantoms of life
& there's great leviathan spouting the spray
Which thou'st made in the depths of the ocean to play

140

ISAIAH CHAP 47

Come down & sit in dust
Daughter of Babalon
Come on the ground ye must
Thy throne & power is gone
Daughter of the chaldeans thy race is oer
Thou art the tender & delicate no more

Take millstones & grind meal
Uncover thy fair locks
Bare legs & thighs reveal
For God thy treachery mocks
Pass oer the streams thy nakedness is seen
& shame is oer thee though thou art a queen

Thy inmost shame is seen
Reverse thy every plan
I'll vengance take nor mean
To meet thee as a man
As for our redeemer he feels shame
The holy one of Israel is his name

Sit there in silence now
& into darkness flye
Uncoronet thy brow
Chaldeans daughter sigh
For thou shalt never more be called
Lady of kingdoms thy base power enthralled

141

I with my people wrath
Did their heritage polute
& in thine hands left both
To make them destitute
Thou shewed no mercey but with heavy stroke
Upon the ancient hast thou laid the yoke

I'm a Lady & forever
Thou saidst it—so depart
Thou remembered not the giver
Nor laid these things to heart
No wickedness on earth can thee defend
Thou ne'er remembered once the latter end

Therefore hear thou this
Thou Lady to pleasures given
That dwelleth careless & amiss
& rests no hope on heaven
Saying ‘I am’ as there was none beside
‘& know no loss of childern in my pride’

‘Nor be a widow lone’
Yet these too mournfull things
Shall in a moment reach thy throne
With all that sorrow brings
For all thy devinations shall they come
& leave thy pomp all childless & no home

In wickedness thy trust
Hath said none seeth me
Thy wisdom & thy lust
It hath perverted thee
& thou hast said & felt it in thy heart
There's none beside me—sorsoress depart

142

Therefore shall evil come
From whence thou shalt not know
All powerless thou to shun the doom
Or to avert the blow
To sudden desolation shalt thou go
& to the ruin which thou shalt not know

With thy enchantments stand
That ever against the truth
The labours of thy sceptered hand
& even known from youth
If profit springs from each liscentious tale
If so be thou with wickedness prevail

With many counsils now
Thou'rt weak & weary grown
Astrollogers may bow
Around thy tottering throne
Stargazers soothesayers let them save or shun thee
From things that surely now shall come upon thee

Behold as stubble they
Before the fire shall burn
Themselves shall pass away
& know not where to turn
They shall not deliver themselves from the power
Of the flame which shall ignite consume & devour

In that desolate charm
There shall not be a fire
Or a coal left to warm
Though through cold they expire
Thus shall they be unto thee & ungrieved
With whom thou hast laboured & revelled & lived

143

Thy merchants from thy youth
They shall wander one & all
To his quarters & the truth
Shall leave thee more in thrall
Though slave dealers take thee though bondsmen enslave thee
There's none shall be able to shield thee or save thee

LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH CHAP. 3

I am the man that affliction hath seen
By the rod of his wrath sorely scourged have I been
He hath turned against me like a vision of night
& led me to darkness & not into light
He turneth his hand against me all the day
My flesh & my skin he made old as a prey
He hath builded against me & broken my bones
I'm compassed with gall & travel & moans
He hath set me in places of darkness & cold
Like a being forgot as the dead are of old
He hath made my chain heavy & hedged me about
He hath shut out my prayer & I cannot get out
He hath enclosed all my ways with hewn heavy stone
& made all my paths both crooked & lone
He was unto me as a bear by the way
Or hideing in secret as a lion to slay
He pulled me in pieces my ways were all turned
Like a desolate being I sorrowed & mourned
I'm a mark for his arrow he bendeth his bow
& empties his quiver to pince me with woe

144

To my people I was a derision & prey
& their song was my sufferings all the long day
He hath filled me with bitterness trouble & thrall
& made me mad drunk both with wormwood & gall
With gravel stones also my teeth he hath broke
He hath covered me over with ashes & smoke
Thou took my souls peace in a desolate hour
I forgot my prosperity riches & power
& I said that my strength in the Lord now must sever
& my hopes in my God now are perished forever
Remembering mine afflictions my misery & thrall
Confinement persecution—the wormwood & gall
My soul hath them still in remembrance the pain
& is humbled within me to feel it again
This I recall to my mind & I sigh
Yet therefore have hope that the worst may be bye
It is of Gods mercies we are not consumed
Because his compassions fail not—yet entombed
His love seems to me in the desolate hours
Yet faith shall be new every morning like flowers
The Lord saith my soul is my portion & stay
Therefore he's my hope both by night & by day
The Lord he is good unto them that will wait
To the soul that will seek him both early & late
It is good that a man he should hope without friends
For the Lord of salvation to make him amends
It is good that a man bear the yoke of his youth
& endure persecution for the sake of the truth
He keepeth his silence & sitteth alone
Because he hath born it as a grief of his own
He hideth & putteth his mouth in the dust
If so that the Lord be his hope & his trust
He giveth his cheek to the smiter nor fears
He is filled with reproach at their insolent jeers
For his Lord & his God forsake him will never
& though he cause grief will not leave him for ever

145

He will have compassion—I am not affraid
For his mercies in multitudes come to our aid
He hurteth not willingly th'afflicted agen
Nor willingly grieveth the childern of men
To c[r]ush underfoot the imprisoned of earth
To turn aside the right of a man from his birth
To subvert a man in his cause or to blot
But his right the most high he approveth it not
Who saith & it cometh to pass in the sun
When the Lord he commandeth it not to be done
Out of Gods mouth it was ne'er understood
That mixture proceeded of evil & good
Wherefore doth a living man daily complain
When our sins they are punished rebukeing is vain
Let us search out our ways & to comfort accord
& turn us agen to the help of the Lord
Let us lift up our hearts & our hands unforgiven
Imploreing God the most high & the mercies of heaven
We have transgressed & rebelled against thee
Thou hast covered with anger—persecuted we flee
Thou hast not pardoned we seek thee again
Thou hast not pittied but smitten & slain
Thou hast covered thyself in the depth of a cloud
That our prayer should not pass or be heard uttered loud
In the midst of thy people—the great & the small
Thou hast made us the refuse offscouring of all
All enemies open their mouths to deride
Fear & snares are against us on every side
Desolation destruction hath left us no shore
With rivers of waters mine eyes runneth oer
For the destruction of the daughter of my people's renown
Without intermission my tears trickle down
Till the lord shall look down from the heavens & see
I mourn for my own citys daughters & me
Mine enemies chased me like a bird from its nest
My heart from its home & would give me no rest
They've cut off my life in the dungeon—to sever
& cast a stone on the door of my freedom forever

146

I said I'm cut off & my heart it felt dead
When waters & darkness flowed over mine head
From out the low dungeon I called on thy name
Thou heardest O Lord my petition & came
Hide not thine ear to my breathing & cry
Thou drawest near in the day that I thought I should die
‘Fear not’ was the voice when I called upon thee
Thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul & I'm free
Thou hast witnessed my wrongs & redeemed my life
Judge thou my cause thou hast witnessed the strife
Against me all their vengance thy wisdom hath seen
& thou knowest what their hidden immag[in]ings mean
The lips of all those who rose up in the fray
Their device against me is as clear as the day
Their reproaches thou hearest—when they sit down or rise
I am their music to scoff & despise
Render them Lord as their justice demands
A reccompence mete to the work of their hands
Give them sorrow of heart that may inly condemn
Be the hatred of heaven thy curse upon them
Persecute & destroy them as somthing abhored
From under the face of thy heaven O Lord

147

PRAYER OF HABACUK

I heard thee O Lord & was stricken with fear
When the voice of thy wrath rung a knell to my ear
Revive thou thy work in the midst of my days
That my heart may rejoice in thy bounty & praise
O Lord ere thy vengance in fury come forth
Remember thy mercy in midst of thy wrath
Thou, Lord God of Temaan, thou most holy one
From the mountains of Paran thy presence was shown
Thy glory encircled the face of the sky
& the earth it was full of thy praise from on high
Thy brightness was glory the essence of light
& thy hands held the horns of thy power in my sight
Before thee pale famine & pestilence came
& coals at thy feet burnt & kindled to flame
He measured the earth in loud pealings of thunder
He beheld & the nations were driven asunder
The hills everlasting were shook in his scales
The perpetual mountains bowed down into vales
His power is eternal everlasting his ways
& earth air & heaven are full of his praise
The tents of all Cush in affliction I saw
& The Curtains of Midian did tremble in awe
Was thy wrath against rivers O Lord that they flee
Did thine anger swell mountains in calms of the sea
When thou rode on thy horses & chariots of fire
O Lord was the chosen's salvation thine Ire
Thy Bow was quite naked—Lord sheath up thy sword
According to the oaths of the tribes & thy word
Thou didst cleave earth with rivers that mightily sped
Mountains saw thee & trembled, yea, trembled & fled

148

Worlds of water broke loose & in thunder passed bye
The deep uttered voices & mounted on high
His brine in the clouds of the heaven was mixed
Sun & Moon in their grand habitation were fixed
These all wait on thee though high mountains in size
& their meat in due season thy bounty supplies
That thou givest they feed on as succour & food
Thou op'nest thy hand lo! it fills them with good
Thou hidest thy face they are troubled & cry
Thou takest their breath & in dust they all lie
Thou sendest thy spirit they start into birth
& again thou renewest the face of the earth
The glory of God is endureing for ever
The Lord shall rejoice in his works as the giver
Though thou lookest on earth & it quakes at thy stroke
Though he toucheth the hills in their pride & they smoke
I will sing while I live my creator to praise
I will sing praise to God to the end of my days
Meditation of him shall sweet comfort afford
& my heart shall be glad in the Love of the Lord
Let sinners consume from the face of the earth
Let the wicked no more have a being or birth
Bless thou the Lord o my heart & my soul
Praise ye the Lord long as seasons shall roll

149

THE LAST JUDGMENT

—ST MATT. FROM VER. 31st TO THE END

When the son of man comes in his glory anew
& all holy angels surrounding him too
Then shall he sit upon glory his throne
& before him all nations be gathered as one

The one from the other he'll seperate then
The wise & the good from lascevious men
The sheep from the goats the good shepherds divide
As gold in the furnace is heated & tried

When his sheep are no longer of comfort bereft
Shall be placed on his right hand & the goats on his left
Come ye blessed of God bid to troubles adieu
& inherit the kingdom prepared for you

From the foundation of earth—the beginning of time
Come of every colour from every clime
For when I was hungered ye offered me meat
& when I was thirsty your water was sweet

Ye lodged me a stranger—forsaken of all
When naked ye cloathed me nor left me in thrall
I was in prison ye came to me there
& your talk made my bonds unconfined as the air

Then shall the righteous say when did we Lord
See then an hungered & offer thee food
Or thirsty to give thee of drink as a guest
A stranger to find thee a welcome & rest

150

Or naked & cloathed thee in part of our wealth
When saw we thee sick & restored thee to health
Or in prison came to thee to make thy bonds free
& the king shall make answer—ye did it to me

For verily I say unto you in as much
As ye've done it to the least of my brothers twas such
Ye have done it to me in the mind & the heart—
He shall say to the left now ye cursed depart

From me into hell everlasting & fire
With the devils own tortures & never expire
For I was an hungered & ye gave me no meat
& athirst but ye brought me no drink in my heat

I was a stranger ye offered no rest
Naked ye cloathed me not—sick & distrest
Ye visited not to give health or set free
Then shall they say Lord—whenever did we

See then an hungered or sick or athirst
Or naked or stranger or in bonds from the first
& did not administer comfort to thee
Then shall he answer them saying—as ye

Did it not to the poorest & least of my fold
Your friendship to me was as barren & cold
& these shall go away to the punishment due
But the righteous shall find joys eternity true

151

[I saw the lamb who opened the first seal]

I saw the lamb who opened the first seal
& heard a voice like thunder ‘Come & see’
From one of the four beast—then did reveal
The heaven a portion of its mystery
One sat on a white horse from thraldom free
A crown was given him who had the bow
& he was left as good & great shall be
Conquoring & to conquor—too & fro
& fame & victor of the world below

The second seal was opened & I heard
The second beast say ‘Come & see’ aloud
Another horse went out red as a pard
& power was given him to stir the crowd
& take peace from the earth & whom war bowed
& hell cried havoc bursting like a flood
With a hugh sword to murder & to slay
Rushed headlong hurrying from the hellish brood
While citys burned to flame & earth itself wept blood

THE NEW JERUSALEM

REV. CHAP 21st

& I looked & I saw a new heaven
& earth on the bosom of day
For the first earth was fled with its deeds unforgiven
& its heaven had perished away
& the ocean was dry & no longer it ran
Which had rolled ever since the creation of man

152

& I John the most holy city descried
New Jerusalem coming from God to the living
Adorned for her husband prepared as a bride
& I heard a great voice speaking loud from the heaven
Behold the tabernacle of God is with men
& there he will dwell with his people agen

They shall be his people united & free
The choice of his love not the fear of his rod
& God shall dwell with them forever & be
Their soul keeping saviour redeemer & God
He shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes
There shall be no more death neither sorrows nor crys

Nor shall there be any more sickness or pain
For the world & their sickness is passed & away
& he that sat on the throne said again
In language as bright as meridian day
& he said to me write I make all things as new
& the words which I spake are both faithfull & true

& once more he said unto me—now it is done
I am Alpha—Omega—beginning & end
Their thirst shall have water as clear as the sun
For I am lifes fountain benefactor & friend
To him that oercometh all goodness is won
His God I will be then & he is my son

But the vain unbelieving & them that have fear
The abominable—murderers whoremongers & liars
Idolaters scorcerers mocking the seer
I leave in the lake of unquenchable fires
There burning forever their being & breath
& this is the second existance of death

153

One of the seven angels then came unto me
Which held the seven plagues in seven phials of strife
Saying come hither & I will show unto thee
The light of salvation the bride & lambs wife
& me in the spirit he carried away & won
To a great & high mountain that peered to the sun

Whose forhead looked green in the realms of the sky
Whose crags in the beams of eternity nod
& shewed me a city great glorious & high
New Jerusalem descending from heaven & God
Having Gods glory eternitys light
As precious as jasper as crystal more bright

& had a great wall shining spacious & high
& twelve gates about it that glittered like flames
& twelve angels watched from the realms of the sky
& written thereon were the tribes & their names
On the east & the north six gates I descried
& the south & the west three on every side

Twelve foundations the walls of the city upheld
& twelve names thereon—the apostles of God
& he that talked with me a golden reed held
An emblem of justice & truth not his rod
To measure the city the gates & the wall
In kindness & love doing equal by all

& the plan of the city it lieth foursquare
The breadth is as long as the height & the length
Twelve thousand furlongs his reed measured there
The contents of that city of glory & strength
The length & the breadth & the height of the plan
Are equal—like God in his mercey to man

154

& he measured the wall with the reed in his hand
Of cubits one hundred & forty & four
According to the measure of a man was the wand
That is of the angel who guarded the door
The walls was of jasper the city pure gold
As clear as a mirror of glass to behold

The walls of the city were garnished like fire
With all manner of sorts of rich precious stones
The first foundation was jasper the second sapphire
The third chalcedony more splendid then thrones
The fourth was an emerald green as the waves
Of the earth that was vanished with oceans & graves

The fifth was sardonix & sardius the sixth
The seventh was chrysolyte—yellow & green
& Beryl the eight[h] & of yellow unmixt
The ninth was a topaz—the rest they were seen
Chrysoparsus a jacinth an amethist—blue
As violets that in the old fallen world grew

The twelve gates were twelve pearls of delight to behold
Every gate was one pearl where no mortal could look
& the street of the city was paved with pure gold
Transparent as glass & the waves of a brook
& no temple there showed itself in my sight
For the Lord God himself was its temple & light

155

No need had the city of sun or the moon
To shine on its splendour—the builder & giver
Of its glory—was also its light & its boon
His sun shone upon it for ever & ever
There the nations of them that are saved meet a home
There the kings of the earth bring their glories & come

& its gates they shall never be closed by day
& night in that city shall never be known
The righteous shall there truth & glory display
& the honour of nations shall make it their own
No wickedness there shall destroy their abode
Or enemies poison the friendship of God

In no wise shall enter any thing to defile
& no abomination of evil come nigh
No wickedness working deception or guile
Nor any that forgeth or maketh a lie
But they which are written in Gods book of life
They shall live here forever from sorrow & strife

156

THE RIVER OF THE WATER OF LIFE

—REV. CHAP. 22

& he showed me a river in midst of the street
Of the water of life clear as chrystal & pure
Flowing out from the throne of the Lord—heaven sweet
The weary to bless & the feeble to care
& on each side the river like comfort in thrall
The tree of life grew as a blessing for all

Twelve manner of fruits did its branches supply
That every month ripened—so fertile the sod
& the leaves of the tree 'neath Jehovahs own eye
Held a cure for the nations who trusted in God
No curse shall there be in that endless of day
With the Lord—where his servants shall serve him for aye

& his name it shall be on their forheads of light
& they shall see his face—nor his majesty shun
No candle is needed where never was night
Neither is wanted the light of the sun
For the Lord God of light & of life is the giver
& they shall reign with him forever & ever

& he said unto me all these sayings are true
& faithfull—& now are as being begun
The God of the prophets sent his angel to shew
To his servants the things which must shortly be done
Behold I come quickly & blessed is he
Who keepeth the sayings of this prophecy

157

I John saw these things & heard while I saw
& when I had heard & had seen unforgot
I fell at the feet of the angel with awe
But he said unto me see thou do it not
For I'm thy fellow servant & worship aright
& of thy bretheren the prophets who live in his light

Of them which keep the sayings this book doth contain
Of which thou art witness what God doth reveal
Worship God—him alone—other worship is vain
These sayings he said unto me—never seal
Leave the prophecy open till all understand
For the kingdom is come & the time is at hand

& he thats unjust—unjust let him be
& he that is filthy live filthy at will
& he that is righteous—leave righteousness free
& he that is holy live holily still
Behold I come quickly my reward is with me
To give all men according as his work it shall be

I am Alpha Omega beginning & end
Time past as the present—the first & the last
They are blest that on all my commandments attend
The tree of life is their right—when lifes troubles is past
The gates are all open the passage is free
& the new golden city their dwelling shall be

For without the dogs growl & the sorcerers cheat
& murder that stabs with idolators bye
& whoremongers all their old deeds to repeat
& they whoso loveth & maketh a lie
I Jesus have sent my angel t'record
These things unto you & the church of the Lord

158

I am the offspring of David & root
& I am the bright & the morning star
& the bride & the spirit say come—eat the fruit
& let him that heareth say come from afar
& let him that parcheth with thirst come & drink
For the water of life ever flows to the brink

To every man living I now testify
That hears the words of this book—& yet doeth the sin
To add any thing unto this prophecy
God shall send him the plagues that are written therein
& if any man take from this book—dealing strife
God shall take out his part from the volume of life

& in the most holy city shall meet with no home
Nor share of the things in this volume of joy
He that testifieth this saitheth quickly I come
Even so come Lord Jesus all sin to destroy
The power of Gods love be with all—now—& then
& the grace of christ jesus be with you—Amen

159

Poems written in Northampton Asylum, 1842–1864

161

NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 19

‘O for a Lodge in some vast wilderness
Some boundless contiguity [of] shade
Where rumour of oppression & deciet
Of unsuccessful or successful war
Might never reach me more.’
Cowper

[& in the maple bush there hides the style]

& in the maple bush there hides the style
& then the gate the awthorn stands before
Till close upon't you cannot see't the while
Tis like to Ivy creeping oer a door
& green as spring nor gap is seen before
& still the path leads on—till neath your hand
The gate waits to be opened—& then claps—the sower
Scatters the seeds of spring beneath his hand
& then the footpath tracks the elting land

162

SONG

[The Fruit is fair to luik upo']

The Fruit is fair to luik upo'
& the flower is fair to see
But my ain flower wi' her sweet clais on
Is the sweetest gem for me
The flower's o' garden's & o' fields
Right bonny flowers may be
The fruit o' orchards flower's o' brae's
Are na' sae sweet to me
She beets them a' in sunday claes
There's na' sich like on bauks & braes

Her gown is red & white & blue
The tartan rainbow coloured shade
Her face is roses blushing true
& lilys grow beneath the plaid
Her waist a single arm may span
Her ancle gimp her leg sae bra'
A proper angel for a man
Her foot the smallest o' the sma'
There's na sick like in sunday claes
On scotlands birks & scotlands braes

I've travelled scotland three times oer
& the flower upo' the heather know
I never saw the like before
By hill or flood or birkenshaw
There's fruits & flower's in mony a glen
But o' the like they've nane to show
She beats them oer & oer agen
The maid upo' the heather know
She beats them a' when i' her sunday clais
Theres nae sic like on bauks or brae's

163

[Land of perpetual summer Italy]

Land of perpetual summer Italy
Land of the golden City of the sun
Cradle of Europes Empire—but for thee
The rest were darkness & perpetual dun
Celestial clime & garden of the sun
Country of Virgil Hessiod—once the free
Latium & Greece both kingdoms of the sun
Their infant cradles rocked by Liberty
& still the sunniest Land is Italy

Greece Land of Homer & the muses fire
How nations read & kindle at thy name
The freemans sword the poets native lyre
Have filled thy history with a classic fame
& is not Greece that Land of Isles the same
The sun shines oer its freedom & wars cease
The despots chains near made it stoop to shame
Its hills & classic sky's repose in peace
& freedom owns it as the soil of Greece

164

SANG

[I sit upo' a simmer bank]

I sit upo' a simmer bank
To view the flower sae bloomin'
I think my sweetheart may cum bye
& she's a luvley woman
Her sunday gown's gat yellow flowers
Her sunday gown's gat green
& she's gat twa three sunday gowns
The sweetest e'er war seen

Her cheeks are like the buddin' rose
Her face the rose fu' blown
Her lukes are what a' natur' knows
I think her heart my ain
I wish she'd cum amang the flowers
& be a flower her sell
I'd press her in these hartsum hours
& luv' her beauty well

Her bonnet is a hat o' strae
Which village maids adorn
Not ane o' mayday seemed sae bra'
She had it new at morn
The ribbons they war green & blue
& naethin luked sae sweet
Ane colour spring the tuther true
Her smiles I luvd to greet

I wish that she wud wanner bye
Amang the flowers & bee's
She'd in this arbour see me lie
The place war sure to please
I see her now i' gown o' green
I' fancies happy e'e—
Strae hat the sweetest e'er was seen
I wish she'd wanner bye

165

[Infants are but cradles for the grave]

Infants are but cradles for the grave
& death the nurse as soon as life begins
Time keeps accounts books for him & they save
Expences for his funeral out of sins
The stone is not put down—but when death wins
Churchyards are chronicles where all sleep well
The gravestones there as afterlives live in
Go search the Scriptures they will plainly tell
That God made heaven—Man himself the hell

[There is a chasm in the heart of man]

There is a chasm in the heart of man
That nothing fathoms like a gulph at sea
A depth of darkness lines may never span
A shade unsunned in dark eternity
Thoughts without shadows—that eye can see
Or thought imagine tis unknown to fame
Like day at midnight such its youth to me
At ten years old it boyhoods secret came
Now manhoods forty past tis just the same

166

SONG

[She's like the daisey on the hill]

She's like the daisey on the hill
That upward turns his eye
As if he thought the small white clouds
Where daiseys in the sky

She is the wood Anemonie
Sae droopin' & sae true
In sic' like shades she luvs to be
Bloomin' in draps o' dew

She is the goud spink on the thorn
Sae lovley in her sang
She is the gouden light o' morn
As beautifull & young

The richest chord of Poesy
The sweetest note they sing
She is the poets pleasant dreams
& every pleasant thing

The all thats beautifull & sweet
The all thats good & fair
Is my true lover when we meet
Where summers wild flowers are

167

TEMPLE OF MINERVA

The ruin of a ruin—man of mirth
Pause oer the past & meditate decay
The very stones are perishing to earth
Foundations though alls left will waste away
Time's chissel on whats left still writes ‘Decay’
Which every season wrecks & wears away

A shadow it was present—but tis past
Time sickened & lifes nature met decay
Convulsive winds seemed sobbing out their last
When ruins piecemeal Temple past away
The very stones like clay dissolving lye
& solitude half fearing learns to sigh

See'st thou the steps of yesterday
The night before the last
See'st thou when darkness went away
& daylight winnowed past
The present is—& shadows are
What was so very bright & fair

168

Spring meadow flowers—was suns & joy
Of present happiness
But when the summer filled the sky
All was another dress
They changed to seed among the hay
& dyed when summer went away

[Now evenings rosey streaks—a ribbond sky]

Now evenings rosey streaks—a ribbond sky
Spreads in the golden light of the far west
& mighty rocks are pillowed dark & high
The image & the prototype of rest
The heavens prophesy where peace is blest—
A stillness soft as fall of silent dews
Is felt around—the very dusk looks blest
As is the maiden while her heart pursues
Her evening walk oer fields in silent dews
Ave Maria tis the hour of love
When sighs & pains & tears on beautys breast
Are whispered into blessings from above
Ave Maria tis the hour of rest
For man & woaman & the weary beast
& parents love the minature delights
That blesses all with sleep & quiet rest
Ave Maria tis the hour of night
Like to an Indian Maiden dressed in white

169

[‘These two had been friends in Youth]

‘These two had been friends in Youth
‘But slanderous Tongues will poison truth’
Now oceans roll between them twain
That never can heal up again

[The winter time is over love]

The winter time is over love
White thorns begin to bud
& brown & green of freshness love
Enlivens all the wood

Theres white clouds got agen the sun
One daisey open on the green
The primrose shows its sulphur bud
Just where the hazel stulps are seen

& ere the april time is out
Along the ridings gravel walk
The bedlam primrose blooms about
Wi' twenty blossoms on a stalk

How happy seems the drop of dew
That nestles in the daiseys eye
How blest the cloud seems in the blue
That near the sun appears to lie

170

How happy does thy shadows seem
That stretches oer the morning grass
They seeims to walk as in a dream
I know their shadows as they pass

The primrose over withered leaves
Now beautifully shines
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]

SONG

[I wish I was were I would be]

I wish I was were I would be
Alone with beauty & the free
I wish I was where I have been
A lover on the village green
Where old pits swell'd & mosses grew
Along with one who loved so true
Hath time made no changes then love is the same
Through calm & through danger dishonour & fame
What e'er I encounter what e'er I pursue
Human love may be frail—but mans honour is true

Canst thou feel what I breathed on thy bosom that eve
If thy love was a womans thoult ne'er disbelieve
But walk in thy fancys through meadow & glen
Aye walk & be happy & think it agen
There's the hills in thy fancy the Park in thy eye
& in midnight so guiltless that beautiful sky
& the stars looked upon us so lovely & warm
& thy own native star shed its beauty so calm
That said in bright colours love never should part
When I lay on thy bosom the man of thy heart

171

The prude may rail on love & falsehood declaim
Mock love is their liscence & falshood their fame
In abscence they scandalize wrong & decieve
& laugh at their fondness when women believe
But man never wronged them & Eden I see
Where man ever loved & a woman is free
Then leave me still free with thy love to be blest
On the bosom of woman my wishes are blest
Oer the hills & the hollows on that happy Eve
True love was the welcome that cannot decieve

SPRING

The sweet spring now is come'ng
In beautifull sunshine
Thorns bud & wild flowers blooming
Daisey & Celadine
Somthing so sweet there is about the spring
Silence is music ere the birds will sing

And theres the hedgerow pootys
Blackbirds from mossy cells
Pick them where the last year's shoot is
Hedge bottoms & wood dells
Stript, spotted, yellow, red, to spring so true
For which the schoolboy looks with pleasures new

On gates the yellow hammer
As bright as Celadine
Sits—green linnets learn to stammer
& Robins sing divine
On brown land furrows stalks the crow
& magpies on the moor below

172

In small hedged closes lambkins stand
Its cud the heifer chews
Like snow clumps upon fallow land
They shine among the Ewes
Or sheets of water by moonlight
The Lambkins shine so very white

The lane the narrow lane
With daisy beds beneath
You scarce can see the light again
Untill you reach the heath
Thorn hedges grow & meet above
For half a mile a green alcove

The netles by garden walls
Stand angrily & dun
Summer on them like poison falls
& all their blossoms shun
The abby's haunted heaps of stone
Is by their treachery overgrown

Theres verdure in the stony street
Decieving earnest eyes
The bare rock has its blossom's sweet
The micriscope espies
Flowers leaves & foliage every where
That cloaths the animated year

Fields meadows woods & pastures
Theres spring in every place
From winters wild disasters
All wear her happy face
Beast on their feet & birds upon the wing
The very clouds upon the sky look spring

173

Sunshine presses by the hedge
& there's the pileworts sure to come
The primrose by the rustling sedge
& largest cowslips first in bloom
All show that spring is every where
The flowery herald of the year

[The present is the funeral of the past]

The present is the funeral of the past
& man the living sepulchre of life
Still in the past he lives—O would it last
In its own dreams of beauty where the strife
Of passion died—yet trouble ever rife
Dwells on its sweetest tones & harsh all sound
That chord that used to sound the name of wife
On life's jarred [music] now emits no sound
& sweetheart melodys youth lost are nowhere to be found

174

[Beautifull poetry I bow to thee]

Beautifull poetry I bow to thee
Here in the midst of winter & of dearth
I trace the sunny climes of Italy
& all the georgeous Edens upon earth
Far from the land that chilled my early birth
To Stambouls plains & rich perenial hours
Rich Turkey's climes & all the wealth of earth
O poesy thy unexausted powers
Gives me these summers of eternal flowers

Sweet Italy & Turkey full as sweet
When shall I meet agen in heavens own eye
Those angels & those houris that would greet
My wanderings in romes hills & Stambouls sky
Where Eden in mans reach would bloom & lie
With woman's smiles about him on loves wing
Fluttered around me in the sweetest sky
Joy realized the love my memories sing
Beautys fond smile & loves eternal spring

A FAVOURITE PLACE

Beautiful gravel walks overgrown
with moss & grass little places where
the poet sat to write

175

SONG LAST DAY

There is a day a dreadfull day
Still following the past
When sun & moon are past away
& mingle with the blast
There is a vision in my eye
A vacuum oer my mind
Sometimes as on the sea I lye
Mid roaring waves & wind

176

When valleys rise to mountain waves
& mountains sink to seas
When towns & cities temples graves
All vanish like a breeze
The skyes that was are past & oer
That almanack of days
Year chronicles are kept no more
Oblivions ruin pays

Pays in destruction shades & hell
Sin goes in darkness down
& therein sulphurs shadows dwell
Worth wins & wears the crown
The very shore if shore I see
All shrivelled to a scroll
The Heaven's rend away from me
& thunders sulphurs roll

Black as the deadly thunder cloud
The stars shall turn to dun
& heaven by that darkness bowed
Shall make days light be done
When stars & skys shall all decay
& earth no more shall be
When heaven itself shall pass away
Then thou'lt remember me

177

[The red bagged bee on never weary wing]

The red bagged bee on never weary wing
Pipe's his small trumpet round the early flowers
& the white nettles by the hedge in spring
Hears his low music all the sunny hours
Till clouds come on & leaves the falling showers
Herald of spring & music of wild blooms
It seems the minstrel of springs early flowers
On banks where the red nettle flowers it comes
& there all the long sunny morning hums

[When reason & religion goes a benting]

When reason & religion goes a benting
Christianity grows lean as specters—and
Pines off to somthing else—none seem repenting
But each get notions none else understand
Wives from their husbands pare off unrelenting
& like pined piegons mope about the land
Couple's awake go silently & dreaming
& love & faith & madness are but seeming

[Summer is on the earth & in the sky]

Summer is on the earth & in the sky
The days all sunny & the fields all green

178

The woods spread oer her hills a canophy
Of beautys harmony in every scene
Like to a map the fields & valleys lie
Winds dash in wildest motions the woods green
& every wave of leaves & every billow
Lies in the sun like Beauty on a pillow

There is a freshness in the leafy sprays
That dashes oer the forest from the wind
The wild sublimity of windy days
Like the rich thinkings of a master mind
Or dashes on the canvass none can find
In works inferior—when the woods all blaze
With a wild sunset & the winds unbind
Their foliage to the heavens wild amaze
Field meadow wood rolling oer stormy days

The roaring of the woods is like a sea
All thunder & comotion to the shore
The old oaks toss their branches to be free
& urge the fury of the storm the more
Louder then thunder is the sobbing roar
Of leafy billows to their shore the sky
Round which the bloodshot clouds like fields of gore
In angry silence did at anchor lie
As if the battles roar was not yet bye

Anon the wind has ceased the woods are still
The winds are sobbed to sleep & all is rest
The clouds like solid rocks too jagged for hills
Lie quietly ashore upon the west
The cottage ceases rocking—each tired guest

179

Sleeps sounder for the heavy storm's uproar
—How calm the sunset blazes in the west
As if the waking storm would burst no more
& this still even seems more calmer than before

[Bluebells how beautifull & bright they look]

Bluebells how beautifull & bright they look
Bowed oer green moss & pearled in morning dew
Shedding a shower of pearls as soon as shook
In every wood hedgegap they're shineing through
Smelling of spring & beautifully blue
—Childhood & Spring how beautifully dwells
Their memories in the woods we now walk through
O balmy days of spring in white thorn dells
How beautifull are woods & their bluebells

SONG

[Tis spring my love tis spring]

Tis spring my love tis spring
& the birds begin to sing
If twas winter left alone with you

180

Your happy form & face
Would make a sunny place
& prove a finer flower then ever grew

Tis spring my love tis spring
On the hazels catkins hing
& the snow drop wi' blebs o' dew
Is not more white within
Then your bosoms hidden skin
The sweetest bonny flower that ever grew

The suns arose from bed
All strewn with roses red
But the brightest crimson place
Is nought so fresh & fair
Or so lovely to compare
As thy blushing bonny face

I love springs early flowers
& their bloom in her first hours
They never half so bright or lovely seem
They are like the happy grace
Of young womans blushing face
& the green happiness of loves young dream

181

[The sinking sun sheds through the window glass]

The sinking sun sheds through the window glass
A roseiate light upon the painted walls
Green looks the trees cornfields & meadow grass
As golden on the road the low sun falls
Loud at their play the citys childern calls
And happy minds seek green spots in the fields
Ere yet the heavy dew of evening falls
While the lone partridge to their ramble calls

SONG

[My bonny Mary Ann]

My bonny Mary Ann
My winsome Mary Ann
The sweetest thing in natures plan
Is my ain true love Mary Ann
Sae bonny is her witching size
Sae pretty is her rosey face
Sae red her lips sae bright her eyes
She's mans delight in ony place

O the bonny Mary Ann
Slender waste & proper size
O the luvly Mary Ann
Cherry cheeks & sparkling eyes
Nay never turn those smiles away
Thy frowns will turn me crazy
Thou kingcup of the sunny may
Thou bonny April daisy

182

My bonny Mary Ann
My charming Mary Ann
The sweetest thing in natures plan
Is my ain true love Mary Ann
The thing that I shud like the best
In natures sweetest plan
Is luv' in Islands of the blest
Wi' bonny Mary Ann

A cozey place with Mary Ann
Ne'er haunted by the foot o' man
But blest with natures choicest plan
Me & my bonny Mary Ann
Her cherry cheeks & proper size
Her luiks that turn frae idle man
I'll worship nature in her eyes
& ever luv' my Mary Ann

My bonny dearest Mary Ann
Soft neck & breasted like a swan
Thy cherry cheeks aye beat the wan
My rosey bonny Mary Ann
I pu' a flower & think o' thee
I cant contrary natures plan
The sweetest flower maist dear to me
Is my ain bonny Mary Ann

183

SONG

[The Larks in the sky love]

The Larks in the sky love
The flowers on the lea
The white thorn's in bloom love
To please thee & me
Neath its shade we can rest love
& sit on the hill
& as we met last love
Enjoy the spring still

The spring is for lovers
The spring is for joy
Oer the moor where the plovers
Wir hover & cry
We'll seek the white thorn love
& sit on the hill
On some sunny morn love
& be lover's still

Where the partridge is craiking
From morning to e'en
In the wheatlands awaking
That sprouts young & green
Where the brook dribbles past love
Down the willowy glen
& as we met last love
Be lovers agen

184

The larks in the grass love
A building her nest
& the brook runs like glass love
Neath the carrion crows nest
There the wild woodbines twine love
& till the days gone
Sun sets & stars shine love
I'll call thee my own

SONG

[Theres pleasure on the pasture lea]

Theres pleasure on the pasture lea
& peace within the cottage
But theres na peace at a' for me
While love is in its dotage

I never have a thought o' gude
But worser thoughts will soil it
When heaven is man's happiest mood
The deil is sure to spoil it

Mans sweetest choice is womans yet
Scenes where her kiss was granted
The choicest place where first they met
Mid flowers bye nature planted

185

& there they dwell in fancys flights
In valley field & glen
In pleasant dreams & heart delights
Till neist they meet agen

SONG

[The bird cherrys white in the dews o' the morning]

The bird cherrys white in the dews o' the morning
The wildings are blushing along the hedgeside
The gold blossomed furze the wild heaths are adorning
& the brook in the hollow runs light by my side
But where is the charmer the voice of the maiden
Whose presence once charmed me the whole summers day
The bushes wi' gold & wi' silver oerlaiden
Looks cold i' the morning when Phebe's away

The sun rises bright oer the oaks in the spinney
Bringing gold unto gold on the winbushes there
Blossoming bright as a new minted guinea
& moist wi' the mist of the morns dewy air
The flower is bowed down & I let the tired Bee be
All wet wi' night dew & unable to flye
Such a kindness in me would be pleasure to Phebe
A poor trampled Insect would cause her to sigh

The white thorn is coming wi' bunches of blossoms
The broad sheets of daiseys spread out on the lea
The bunches of cowslips spread out their gold bosoms
While the oak balls appear on the old spinney tree

186

Come forward my Phebe wi' dews of the morning
By the old crooked brook let thy early walk be
Where the brambles arched stalks—glossy leaves are adorning
& bits o' woo' hang on the bark o' the tree

Come forward my Phebe by times in the morning
Come forward my Phebe in blebs o' the dew
They bead the young cowslip like pearls i' the dawning
& we'll mark the young shower where the green linnet flew
I'll court thee & woo thee from morning to e'ening
Where the primrose looks bright in the ivy's dark green
& the oak oer the brook in its white bark is leaning
There let me & Phebe wi' morning be seen

[Tall grows the nettle by the hedgeway side]

Tall grows the nettle by the hedgeway side
& bye the old barn end they shade the wall
In sunshine nodding to the angry tide
Of winds that winnows bye—these one & all
Makes up the harmony of Spring—& all
That passes feel a sudden love for flowers
They look so green—& when the soft showers fall
They grow so fast—Dock Burdocks Henbane—all
Who loves not wild flowers bye the old stone wall

187

VERSES ON ONLEY

A charm is thrown oer Olney plains
By Cowper's rural muse
While sunshine gilds the river Ouse
In morning's meadow dews

SALLY FRISBY

Song

Sally Frisby's fair & bonny
Frae the bosom to the feet
Rose & lily there's not ony
Half sae fair & half sae sweet
As hedge woodbine's streaks o' red
Bonny Sally's far more dear
Her healthy hue o' white & red
Is like the rose upo' the brere

Bonny Sally blooming Sally
Fairest flower of a' the town
I' the woodbine lane to dally
& walk wi' Sally up & down

188

The woodbine to the summer dear
Is nothing half sae sweet
The hue of roses on the brere
Turns pale thy face to meet

There is a colour on thy cheek
A brightness in thy eye
Twere vain in any flower to seek
Or any painted sky
There is a rose upon thy cheek
Not found on any tree
There is a ruby on thy lip
Not found in either sea

Dew drops that upon heath bells lye
Their colour shining through
Is just the hue o' thy bright eye
& half as luvly too
We'll wander down the pebbly brook
Where clearest waters dally
& hide us i' the ‘clover nook’
Myself & beautious Sally

SONG

[How sweet the happy evening hails]

How sweet the happy evening hails
The fields as sinks the sun
While leans the maid agen the rails
Where clear the waters run
A bonny maid with eyes as sweet
As beams o' e'ening sun
A bonny maid & dressed as neat
As sweethearts when they're won

189

The hedges by the e'ening sun
Was gilt in every place
But the sweetest look that e'er was won
Was in her bonny face
In gown o' pink & hat o' straw
How sweet the maid did seem
Her face as round as ony ba'
Her bosom fair as cream

How white her hands how very white
Like angels hands they be
The sweetest thing that e'enings light
Has ever brought to me
She stood agen the fountains head
& leaned agen the rails
The setting sun was going to bed
& gilding all the vales

I passed the maid a flower o' grace
That did my fancys strike
The rose it blossomed in her face
No garden owns the like
Her gown o' pink her hat o' straw
Have won my fancy clean
She is the fairest o' them a'
The maid I met at een

190

OUNDLE PHEBE

My bonny blooming Oundle Lassie
More beautifull then Hebe
Let's wander in the meads sae grassy
My bonny bluiming Oundle Phebe
The beautifull & true my love
The beautifull & true
Are in that rosey face my love
& those bright eyes o' blue

They're brighter then a bleb o' dew
On the rose leaves underside
That tremble as the wind blows through
Brighter then ony thing beside
I never saw a fairer face
E'er since the days of Hebe
The sweetest flower o' ony place
Is beautys pastoral Phebe

O my bonny rosey Phebe
Beautifull as greece's Hebe
Bright-eyed pastoral blooming Phebe
O my blooming bonny Phebe
Had I the world the land & sea
I'd gi' it wi' myself to Phebe
My queen & goddess she shud be
The bright & beautious Phebe

191

I snatch the bell flower frae the dew
Frae woods the valleys lily
Thy bosom had the selfsame hue
When I stood shally shilly
Beside thee by the bright green thorn
A gazing upo' Phebe
The sweetest rose bud o' the morn
Art thou my lovely Phebe

I look upo' the heat o' day
I look upo' the dawning
The morning red the e'ening grey
The blooming & adorning
The gouden plumage o' the dove
Is not sae bright as Phebe
The pink o' a' the warld's luv
Is fascinating Phebe

TO SORROW

‘Sorrow is my joy’

Beautifull Sorrow in thy silence thou
Art more then beautifull—not charms of youth
A rosey skin or lily painted brow
Can match thy looks thou beautiful in truth
Rebeccas faith warm with the love of Ruth
Leave heavens sunshine on thy thoughtfull brow
Thou beautifull of sorrow & of truth
Hideing no secret sin no broken vow
While in thy raven hair white snow drops glow

192

SONG

[O beautifull Sorrow]

Her cheeks are like the rosey flower
Then aiblins like the lily
She's gloomy in a lonely hour
Then tricksome as a filly
Of Kildare she's the rosey bower
& syine the snow white Lily

198

Sweet Susan is the girl for me
My bright & bonny Susan
She's slender as a poplar tree
My bonny black eyed Susan
There's but ain only chusing
While I'm making love to thee

[Poets & Poesy are aspirations]

Poets & Poesy are aspirations
Of minds superior to the common lot
The light & life & ornament of nations
That leave no writing they could wish to blot
Time mossed in centurys finds them unforgot
Green with the leaves of laurel & the bay
The poets dwelling is a sacred spot
Where pilgrims love when ages pass away
The low mossed cot—the steeple crack'd & grey

SONG

[The winter stays till e'en & the spring it canna cum]

The winter stays till e'en & the spring it canna cum
& every cannie bud is nipt up before the bloom
The winter winna gae & it stays a day oer lang
Sae the flowers they canna blossom & the birdies get nae Sang

199

The young & cannie maiden canna gang by her ain gate
But brazen ruffian winter mun teaze her suin & late
Her gown to shun the dirt oft leaves her ancle bare
For her gown it is the best & her ony sabbath ware

Then brazen ruffian winter begins his bawdry sang
& calls her foul & filthy names & does her mickle wrang
But I loo to see her ancle & I loo to see her gown
Held up by her lily hand when rains are dripping doon

& if I see her bonny cauf it sets me in a bleeze
The pillars o' king Salomon are nat sae sweet as these
But winter blites wi' chilblains where love would leave a kiss
& woman lovely woman is ever used amiss

The winter stays till e'en & the spring it canna get
There's near a way for maids to gaing & neer a blossom yet
There's ne'er a wa' for womans gate luik which a wa we will
Yet still I loo a' woman kind & winna do her ill

I winna wrang a woman for the best bluid in my veins
I winna wrang a woman till the last of life remains
Though the spring it canna cum & the winter winna gang
I maun luv' aye worship woman in every tale & sang

[Look through the naked bramble & black thorn]

Look through the naked bramble & black thorn
& see the arum show its vivid green
Glossy & rich & some ink spotted like the morn
Ing sky with clouds—in sweetest neuks Ive been

200

& seen the arum sprout its happy green
Full of spring visions & green thoughts o' may
Dead leaves a' litter where its leaves are seen
Broader & brighter green from day to day
Beneath the hedges in their leafless spray

[Here is the scenes the rural poet made]

Here is the scenes the rural poet made
So famous in his songs—the very scenes
He painted in his words that warm & shade
In winters wild waste & springs young vivid greens
Alcove & shrubbery—& the tree that leans
With its oerweight of Ivy—Yardley oak
The peasants nest & fields of blossomed beans
The bridge & avenue of thick set oak
The wilde[r]ness—here Cowpers spirit spoke

THE AWTHORN

I love the awthorn well
The first green thing
In woods & hedges—black thorn dell
Dashed with its green first spring
When sallows shine in golden shene
These white thorn places in the black how green

201

How beautifully green
Though March has but begun
To tend primroses planted in the sun
The roots thats further in
Are not begun to bud or may be just begun

I love the white thorn bough
Hung over the mole hill
Where the spring feeding cow
Rubs off the dew drop chill
When on the cowslip pips & glossy thorn
The dews hang shining pearls at early morn

SONG

[Theres a little odd house by the side of the Lane]

Theres a little odd house by the side of the Lane
Where the daisy smiles sweet in the spring
Where the morning sun glitters like gold on the pane
& the hedge Sparrow trembles his wing
Where chaffinch green linnet & Sparrows have tones
That make the green Lane & the cottage their own

The sparrows they chirp & make nests i' the eaves
The chaffinch sings ‘pink’ in the hedge o' white thorn
That fences the garden & there the bird weaves
A nest of grey lichen soon as light i' the morn
& there bonny Susan will sit at the door
& see the green linnet at work at its nest
Where the robin flyes in for a crumb on the floor
& seems as if longing to sit on her breast

202

SONG

[Come dwell with me]

Come dwell with me
Neath the green wood tree
& nature will teach thee plain
That peace & health is liberty
We nowhere else shall gain
Come dwell with me
Neath the green wood tree
Where life is not spent in vain

Come where the wilding blows
Like the hedge dog rose
With its pale & pinky stain
Where the hugh oak rocks
While the tempest blows
Come dwell with me
Neath the hugh oak tree
Where nature no ill bestows

Full green is the spring
& thrushes they sing
In the hazle & maple tree
Come to the green wood
& twill set thy heart free
In such a still place to be
With all thats beautifull & good

203

[I love the little pond to mark at spring]

I love the little pond to mark at spring
When frogs & toads are croaking round its brink
When blackbirds yellow bills gin first to sing
& green woodpecker rotten trees to clink
I love to see the cattle muse & drink
& water crinkle to the rude march wind
While two ash dotterels flourish on its brink
Bearing key bunches children run to find
& water buttercups they're forced to leave behind

SPRING

Pale sun beams gleam
That nurtur a few flowers
Pile wort & daisey & a sprig o' green
On white thorn bushes
In the leaf strewn hedge

These harbingers
Tell spring is coming fast
& these the schoolboy marks
& wastes an hour from school
Agen the old pasture hedge

204

Cropping the daisey
& the pile wort flowers
Pleased with the Spring & all he looks upon
He opes his spelling book
& hides her blossoms there

Shadows fall dark
Like black in the pale Sun
& lye the bleak day long
Like black stock under hedges
& bare wind rocked trees

Tis chill but pleasant
In the hedge bottom lined
With brown seer leaves the last
Year littered there & left
Mopes the hedge Sparrow

With trembling wings & cheeps
Its welcome to pale sunbeams
Creeping through & further on
Made of green moss
The nest & green blue eggs are seen

All token spring & every day
Green & more green hedges & close
& every where appears
Still tis but March
But still that March is Spring

205

[The wind blows happily on every thing]

The wind blows happily on every thing
The very weeds that shake beside the fold
Bowing they dance—do any thing but sing
& all the scene is lovely to behold
Blue mists of morning evenings of gold
How beautifull the wind will play with spring
Flowers beam with every colour light beholds
Showers oer the Landscape flye on wet pearl wings
& winds stir up unnumbered pleasant things

I love the luscious green before the bloom
The leaves & grass & even beds of moss
When leaves gin bud & spring prepares to come
The Ivys evergreen the brown green gorse
Plots of green weeds that barest roads engross
In fact I love the youth of each green thing
The grass the trees the bushes & the moss
That pleases little birds & makes them sing
I love the green before the blooms of spring

206

[Sorrow is felt not seen—the grief of verse]

Sorrow is felt not seen—the grief of verse
Is writ by those who share not in our pain
The pawl embrodered & the sable hearse
Are symbols not of sorrow but of gain
What of the scutcheoned hearse & pawl remain
When all is past—there sorrow is no more
Sorrows heart aches—& burning scars will stain
As morning dews—as april showers is oer
Some tears fall on their graves again

KATHARINE AIRLIE

O a' the flowers o' scottish land
Oer hill & valley blooming
There's nane that has the worlds command
& looks sae sweet as woman

207

She is the pink of each paterre
Though three times doubled fairley
& war they sweeter then they are
They'd not match Cathrine Airlie

Ive often trod the scottish dells
& clomb her mountains high
Where bush & tree upon the fells
Touched the cieling of the sky
& maids I've a'maist seen them a'
& talked baith late & early
But fews sae fair & nane sae bra'
As bonny Catharine Airlie

O bonny is the gowan blue
Beneath the Lammie's claie's
& never bluimed a flower mair true
On vales or mountain braes
To catch the dew & tell the spring
With showers that sprinkle's early
But nae flower fanned by birdies wing
Can match with Katharine Airly

Mair fair then lilies o' the vale
Mair sweet then roses are
That bluims in bonny Teviotdale
Theres ne'er a rose sae fair
As is her sweet & bonny face
The like is seen but rarely
There's near a rose in ony place
Like bonny Katharine Airlie

Sae lang as scotland hills are green
& vallies pour their floods
Sae lang as nature's soveriegn queen
Oer mountains plains & woods

208

Sae lang the lily o' the land
The flower o' late & early
The dearest flower in loves command
Is my sweet Katharine Airlie

[False time what is it but a rogues account]

False time what is it but a rogues account
Of books wrong kept—times keystone is the sun
True natures wronged—& what is the amount
But deaths diseases—that their circuit run
Through error & through deeds that fate has done
Religion is the health—the suns bright ray
By which the goal of Love & Freedoms won
The oceans tide will flow its natural way
& none its speed & none its course will stay

THE NORTH STAR

There is a Star I know it well
Sun of the northern sky
That cheers the hermits lonely cell
Like heavens unerring eye
Twas there a thousand thousand years
& still in the same place appears

209

The other stars they flye about
Like lights lit in a cell
Lit up awhile & then put out
There's none knows where they dwell
But where God lit thou'rt shining still
A Lamp of heaven's eternal will

The compass to the problem true
As sun is to the day
The even star that gems the dew
Take's day's last light away
Yet shines in heaven no stationed space
But wanes & others take her place

But there thou wert when Noahs ark
Its shoreless voyage went
Just where thourt stealing from the dark
Like tapers from a tent
& there thou wert at Waterloo
In the same place as now I view

When Moses stood on Sions hight
Thy light was faithfull then
& thy beams shed unerring light
On sons of lesser men
The same as on that glorious night
When Israel slew th'Amelakites

Thou lone & solitary star
A lamp oer oceans pathless brine
Beacon to those who travel far
Upon this hemisphere is thine

210

Such light is by religion given
To light our blinded way to heaven

[All nature has a feeling wood fields brooks]

All nature has a feeling wood fields brooks
Are life eternal—& in silence they
Speak happiness—beyond the reach of books
There's nothing mortal in them—their decay
Is the green life of change to pass away
& come again in blooms revifified
Its birth was heaven eternal is its stay
& with the sun & moon shall still abide
Beneath their night & day & heave[n] wide

TWILIGHT

Twilight meek nurse of dews
& mother of refreshing births to flowers
Sweet now a walk to chuse
& roam in thy cool hours
To be an hour away unseen of men
In the green lane or white thorn studded glen

Sweet twilight swarth or pale meek nurse of dews
Mother of sweet sleep to many flowers
The birth of dewwebbed breezes that imbues
Our hearts to meditation in sweet hours
Sweet twilight nurse of sleep
In watchet stole & web of sober grey

211

[Old times forgetfull memories of the past]

Old times forgetfull memories of the past
Are cold & drear as snow upon our graves
In books less then a shadows doom will last
But Fragments there each stranded volume saves
Like some rich gems washed up from ocean waves
But now no summer dwells upon the spot
Nor flower to blossom—the eternal blast
Oblivion leaves the earth in which they rot
Darkness in which the very lights forgot

[Where are the citys Sodom & Gomorrah]

Where are the citys Sodom & Gomorrah
The marble pallaces upon the plain
Citys to day & a dead sea tomorrow
& what they was they ne'er will be again
That earth is lost & all its city slain
By the oerwhelming waves entombed & gone
Search for its ruins now is void & vain
& but one witness saw that ruin done—
The ever burning bright eternal Sun

212

SANG

[Twas just when early springs begin]

Twas just when early springs begin
To open daiseys eyes agin
& shaw the gouden light wi'in
Upon a sunny mornin'

Twas just when buds will swell to shoot
& buddin' primrose at the root
Begins to show its sulphur suit
All on the dewy morning

& violets peep afore the dawn
Upon woodbanks beneath the thorn
Ere yet a single leaf is born
To shield the chilly morning

I saw a maid i mornin's grey
Upon her misty milkin' way
When dead grass tufts & naked spray
Bent wi' the weet o' mornin'

As ony flower her face was fair
& had the rose i' june been there
There's bin nout in it to compare
Wi' her I met that mornin'

213

There may be many flowers a bloomin'
& monie mair wi' simmer comin'
The sweetest that I cau'd a woman
Upon that dewy mornin'

& may the smiles o' heaven keep it
& may the dews o' april steep it
& nought on earth ha' cause to weep it
The flower o' april mornin'

‘Blessed be thy bloom thou lovely gem
Unscathed by ruffian hand
& from thee many a happy stem
Arise to deck our land’

Burns

[& what is Love the sweetest of all pains]

& what is Love the sweetest of all pains
Yet teazing more then madness to the mind
It wants no setoffs garniture or gains
Better acceptance in the heart to find
On lily breasts & rosey mouths love binds

214

Its image which no power on earth can free
Though called inconstant as the shifting winds
Tis Truth on earth as heaven itself can be
I've felt it ever since I loved Haidee

Haidee the lovliest of all thats loved
The venus of young life the poets dreams
A vision of the mind by all approved
A beauty of the heart that all esteems
Where all is beautifull—theres no part seems
Diviner—all is best—none better—Haidee's real
—Angels are good mens hopes & poets dreams
Haidee is flesh & blood—with eyes that steal
Man from himself—love's soul beneath Gods seal

Those turband roses vide Turkish girls
How shaped & young & beautifull they are
All garnitured in rubies gold & pearls
The lilies whiteness even is not fair
Beside their lovliness—but droop despair
& sicken in their sunshine—there love dwells
The houris's of Eden—long dark hair
& wreathing tresses loves bewitching spells
& ‘large black eyes like pearls hid in their shells’

[_]

The following ten lines are the initial draft of the stanza composed of lines 38–46.

215

[‘The Lord of the daybreak’ soars on high
& turns the grecian sea to mirrourd gold
Like Edens round the grecian Islands lie
Where seasons green & beautifull unfold
Thy smiles are charms that turned all to gold]

[When once thy smile is seen what else may seem
So beautifull—for nought more loved could be
Then thou in boyhoods fancy or loves dream
& still as then thy prescence I behold
I never think of Greece without Haidee]

[‘The Lord of Daybreak’ soareth now on high
& turns to mirrored gold each wood & stream
Like Edens round the greecian Islands lie
As beautifull as a midsummer dream—
Where once thy smile is seen—what else may seem
So beautifull—for nought more loved can be
Then thou in boyhoods fancy or loves dream
& still thou art a sweet young dream to me
I never think of greece without Haidee

The heaven of earths visions—boyhoods dreams—
But too much love turns dirty—here we halt
& face about from heaven & extremes
Ale cant be good if they forget the malt
& earth has lost its savour without salt
Love—hate are nearer kindred than life seems
To own too—if her fault I cannot tell
That sweet that turns to sour & never creams
Makes strange reallities the heaviest dreams

216

Love tickled is by any bents or straws
A lady likeing whisper in the dark
A rebel doubtfullness unknown to laws
That looks all eyes & greedy as a shark
Swallows the mall the promenade & park
But such is sham love fond of different faces
Not that which hears the ballads of the lark
True love's the inward self in secret places
Whats felt bye two in love a third but guesses

NELLY GILES

O Nelly Giles o Nelly Giles
I canna rest i' sleep
I wander over gates & stiles
& over rivers deep
Your face it is sae sweet to see
Sae rich the rosey smiles
Ye've often made a fool o' me
My charming Nelly Giles

The summer is a luscious flower
& sae is Nelly Giles
The clover bottles makes the hour
Sae sweet frae stile to stile
Down paths that gae accross the fields
Bean flowers smell sweet & smile
But nae ane thing sic pleasure yields
As a walking Nelly Giles

217

The water like the bright sun smiles
In white thorns linnets sing
& yonder wanders Nelly Giles
A lily by the spring
The clover bottles luscious smiles
The cowslip by the way
But ten times over Nelly Giles
Is handsomer then they

Sweet Nelly Giles sweet Nelly Giles
Is sweeter then the rose
That on the white thorn hedges smiles
In summer times repose
The sma' white lily by the well
The bell flower by the stile
Looks nothing in their dress so well
As charming Nelly Giles

There is an eye there is a look
That wins by choicest smile
You cannot find it i' the brook
But ony Nelly Giles
O Nelly Giles thou pink o' May
& summertime o' smiles
I think about thee every day
Thou charming Nelly Giles

218

SONG

[My bonny Ann Sharp]

My bonny Ann Sharp
It was rapture to meet thee
My bonny Ann Sharp
It was pleasure to greet thee
With the leaves on the bushes
The meadows all hay
When we sat on green rushes
& courted all day

When the wild flower close bye us
Was wooed bye the bee
Nought in life gave such joy as
A armfull of thee
My bonny Ann Sharp
Thou art first o' the many
There is nane i' the whole warld
Can equal my Nannie

Its a beautifull place
I still visit my sen
Where wild flowers may blossom
That blossomed there then
My bonnie Ann Sharp
& the grass luiked sae green
That I thought o' thy beauty
Both morning & e'en

My bonny Ann Sharp
& rich beautys ain Nannie
Thy frowns & ill temper
Would bother me scranny

219

But bonnie Ann Sharp
Will luik kindly on me
& bonnie Ann Sharp
Is the dearest to me

Of my manhood the queen
Dearest light o' my e'e
& this sweet simmer scene
But reminds me o thee
O my beautifull Ann
Neath the meadows green tree
Where the clear water ran
I'll thy worshiper be

SONG—WHITE THORN TREE

The may bush smells sae very sweet
The crimson threeds sae fine
The chaffinch builds her nest sae neat
& shepherd's sit to dine
Aye dear o' me I love to see
The sweetly scented white thorn tree

The leaves are green & very green
Though bunches o' the may
Whiten till scarcely one is seen
For a whole summers day
Aye dear o' me I love to see
Hedges all white & love the awthorn tree

220

It spreads above the little pond
& hides the thrushes nest
The hedge is whiter still beyond
With moonlight on its breast
Aye dear o' me I luv' to see
The little pond & awthorn tree

I luv' the thorn the white awthorn
The bonniest thing in may
That bonnily scents the gales o' morn
& sweetens a' the day
Aye dear o' me I love to see
Grass shadows o' the white thorn tree

It fa's sae black on the wild thyme hills
In the morning & sae lang
& the blackbird hides that merry trills
In its leaves the sweetest song
Aye dear o' me I luv' to see
The blackbird haunted white thorn tree

O the bonny scented awthorn
Bright leaf & snowy flowers
That stands alone tween lands o corn
Glittered wi' morning dews & showers
Aye dear o' me I luv' to see
The bonny spreading white thorn tree

221

MARY GREEN

Was there ever such a hue
O Loves bonny Mary Green
On the rosey pearled in dew
As on thy cheek is seen
On choice carnation leaves
Was there e'er so rich a streak
When thy white bosom heaves
As thy lips that music speak

Shall I twine the weeping willow
Round the bloom of Mary Green
Oer her bosoms snowy pillows
& her face so like a queen
Shall the cypress glooms be wreathing
Like a lump o' coffined clay
Round that form o' beauty breathing
All the witcherys o' May

O my lovely Mary Green
The richest flower o' May
On thy bonny face is seen
Which love winna take away
Thy dress sae neat thy face sae sweet
As bonny as a queen
Thou'rt loves own sweetheart a' compleat
My bonny Mary Green

222

SONG

[Mary Ann Abbot]

Mary Ann Abbot
Ive a secret or two
But love dare not blab it
To any but you

Its a secret as simple
As secrets all are
In Mary Anns dimples
& beautifull hair

Dark curls of her youth
& love light o' her eye
In that beautifull truth
Why is Mary so shy

Nature ripened those charms love
Pride never made vain
Why not come to my arms love
& kiss me again

Lay bare those twin roses
That hide in thy hair
Thy eyes light discloses
The sweetness hid there

223

For thy dark curls lye on them
Like night in the air
Like a nightmare upon them
As nothing were there

Come my sweet Mary Ann
Let me kiss & adore thee
There's none in this world
That was ever before thee

[O for one real imaginary blessing]

O for one real imaginary blessing
Ideal real blessing blasted through
With sin & yet how rich is the caressing
Of love as mothers kisses sweet as Hermon dew
A bright grey eye or black it knocks mine through
& leaves them dim as stars fall'n from above
Electric shocks they come from God knows who
Milk maids have eyes the picture of the doves
That thrill through bones & marrow is it Love

It is the very essence of all pleasure
It is earths diamond & the oceans gem
It is of life & soul the dearest treasure
Woman through life is mans own diadem
To love God truly may we worship them

224

Of life in love how various is the scenes
Of infant cherubs Loves the parent stem
I wooed a gipsey wench on sunday e'ens
& worshiped beggar girls & courted queens

Love is the fire that burns the heart to cinders
Love is the thought that makes the poets sigh
Sweet as Queens portraits stuck in London windows
For loyal subjects in their love to buy
Love is of every heart the painted toy
The idol of man[s] worship—faces fair
Where my enchanted magic from a boy
The pouting lip the colour of the hair
Left me in raptures next of kin to care

I loved & wooed them in the field like gems
Of two much value for the clown who sung
The azure bluebells in their sapphire stems
Among green bushes low their mute bells hung
These seemed love's modest maidens dew bestrung
With blebs o' mornings glittering pearls
I loved them in the vallys where I sung
With their green drapery & crispy curls
I loved them as a crowd of blooming girls

With bonny bosom white as is the May
Sweet milkmaid o' may mornings—queen Victoria
The wild brere blushes wi' the break o' day
Sweet as the cowslip fields that spread before thee
Sweet are the dusky clouds that sprinkle oer thee
Filling the cowslip pips wi pearls untold
Thy crown & scepter fade from natures glory
Like toys for tyrants or like garments old
Be nature's Queen & keep her crown of gold

225

The wild hedge rose it is a bonny flower
As ever met the sunshine & the sky
Its gold threads beeded with the summer showers
That patter on the glossy leaves & lye
Like pearls that glitter neath the maidens eye
Who stands admiring by the burning flowers
That from her own looks takes a deeper dye
Like feathers on the hedges at morns hours
They look to fancies happier then ours

I could not walk the fields like common men
& have no fancys nourish—nor could I
Pass the wild rose bush oer the foxes den
& not admire its grandeur silently
Natures own majesty who could pass bye
Things left all beauty like those simple scenes
The wild rose blushing neath a summer sky
The summer morning & the rosey e'en
With all the woodland multitudes of green

SONG

[We never know the sweets o' joy]

We never know the sweets o' joy
Untill it goes away
The sweetest flower no notice wakes
Untill it meets decay

The bright sun shines our heads above
Like rich unnoticed dreams
& when the day is lost in clouds
We value the sunbeams

226

The spring is nothing when it comes
That seemed so bright before
The merry bee neglected hums
Flowers weeds & nothing more

The present joy we cannot see
The sweetest comes to morrow
But when its past no longer free
Past joys are present Sorrow

SONG

[I long to think of thee in lonely midnight]

I long to think of thee in lonely midnight
When thy spirit comes warm as an angel of light
Thy face is before me in rosey & flame
Which my kiss canna reach & I know not thy name
My heart aches to think on't—tis long sin' we met
If love is the truth love how can I forget
My arms would have clasped thee to pull thy face down
But when I embraced thee the Vision was flown

& was it true luv' & cud I forget
Thy name when I feel how enraptured we met
& can love forget thee sae much & keep true
Thy vision brought daylight before the cock crew
I saw thee above me in roseate hue
Thy cheeks they were red & thy bosom swelled too
My arm could na reach those pearl shoulders sae white
Nor my lips cud na kiss wi' thy lips to unite

227

& can it be love to have loved & forget
To see thee in visions nor know thy name yet
Thy face is my own that was worshipped in love
& thou comest before me a light from above
Tis thyself but I canna yet think o' thy name
Though my cells light at midnight before the day came
Thy face is still beauty thy breast roseys hue
But thy name I cant think of & yet love is true

[God looks on nature with a glorious eye]

God looks on nature with a glorious eye
& blesses all creation with the sun
Its drapery of green & brown earth ocean lie
In morning as Creation just begun
That safforn east fortells the riseing sun
& who can look upon that majesty
Of light brightness & splendour nor feel won
With love of him whose bright all seeing eye
Feeds the days light with Immortallity

MARCH VIOLET

Where last years leaves & weeds decay
March violets are in blow
I'd rake the rubbish all away
& give them room to grow

228

Near neighbour to the Arum proud
Where dew drops fall & sleep
As purple as a fallen cloud
March violets bloom & creep

Scenting the gales of early morn
They smell before they're seen
Peeping beneath the old white thorn
That shows its tender green

The lambs will nible by their bloom
& eat them day by day
Till briars forbid his steps to come
& then he skips away

Mid nettle stalks that wither there
& on the greensward lie
All bleaching in the thin march air
The scattered violets lie

I know the place it is a place
In spring where nettles come
There milk white violets show thier face
& blue ones earlier bloom

SONG—MOLLY MAGEE

My thoughts are of thee Love though thou thinkst not of me
Yet dearly I love thee sweet Molly Magee
To day i' the morning twas nine o' the clock
Thy arm went behind thee to button thy frock

229

& in pulling it back wi' sich sweetness & ease
My heart broke in two love as short as you please
So now Im a cripple as well you may see
& all through the beauty of Molly Magee

Tother day she stooped natty to tye up her shoe
It wanted five minutes of a quarter to two
& lauk sich a foot & a ancle war there
I lost both my eyes as I turned me to stare
They left me as blind as an owl before day
& stone heaps & blunders are all in the way
I maun be a blind man & believe I cant see
& its all for the beauty of Molly Magee

She tyed up her shoe string she buttoned her frock
& my heart was shut up like the bolt i' the lock
Like the bolt i' the lock like the chit i' the pea
Sich power had the beauty o' Molly Magee
Her back war so white & her leg war so round
The sight o't war worth half the coin in a pound
But bother the sight it has stolen my e'e
I'm blind wi' the beauty o' Molly Magee

I tumble oer stone heaps & miss the high way
& am lost i the dark i the middle o day
If ain opes his mouth I'm as deaf as a tree
They a' seem as taulkin' o' Molly Magee
If they mutter agen her & I knew it not
My heart leaves my breast like a bird that is shot
I shall ne'er mak' an ould man I plain enough see
I'm kilt through the beauty of Molly Magee

230

WRECK OF THE EMELIE

The land it is a dangerous strand
So is the briny Sea
When man has lost his self command
How wretched he must be
Our Ship it was the ‘Emmelie’
To Cardiff she was bound
But foundered in a dangerous sea
With dangers all around

The sky was all a ink black rock
The wild fire seaming through
The Emelie recieved the shock
All in that boisterous Sea
Like seething pots the billows boiled
& frothed that briny Sea
The sailors on the masts were coiled
When wrecked the Emelie

The night came on in black & brown
& where that chauldron boiled red hot
The foundering Emelie went down
As sudden as a shot
Some clung to spars to hencoops some
Twas but a minutes space
Loud oer them boiling billows boom
& left no resting place

231

Above them gloomed the angry sky
& through the pitch black rock
Of clouds the splintered lightnings flye
None could resist the shock
Down & in a moment gone
Nine men plunged in the wave
& all the seamen lost but one
There met a watery grave

One still survived that fatal wreck
By billows washed ashore
Though all had hopes that stood on deck
That now can feel no more
He through the boiling waves did beat
All in that boiling sea
& on the beach upon his feet
Viewed the shipwrecked Emelie

[The healthfull mind that muses & inhales]

The healthfull mind that muses & inhales
The green eyed dews of morning finds his way
To paradise Gods choice selfplanted vales
The dewy breath of flowers the gales that play
Around them like sleep wakeing half the day
Morning luxuriant in green juicey strife
[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Health to faint love & happiness to life

O the first days of summer—mornings blush
Is rife with healthy freshness hung with dew
To dip your hand into a wet rose bush
& crop the fairest flower that ever grew
Pearled with the silver shine of morning dew

232

How beautifull it looks how sweet it smells
The breath of virgin morning coming new
That from the sweets of flowers her story tells
& voice of song birds in the ecchoing dells

& heres the double pink Hepathica
Another early herald of the spring
That comes before the Daffodils to say
That Winds of march are coming with the spring
& all her pleasant flowers—Birds on the wing
Are chirping in the boxtree bye the roots
Hepathicas are early flowers of Spring
They come before the rich laburnum shoots
& frost & snow the early blossom suits

SONG

[O Edinborough Katys a beautifull girl]

O Edinborough Katys a beautifull girl
Her eyes bright as sunshine her teeth white as pearl
Her waist little mair then the span of baith han's
Yet her bosom & shoulders are broader then man's
This edinborough Katys a beautifull girl
Her eyes bright as sunshine her teeth white as pearl
As soft as a cushion a armfull to span
With a bosom & shoulders as broad as a man

O Edinburough Katy she bluims like a lily
The pride o' a' Scotland the pride o' her Willy
Is Edinbro' Katy as weel as the town
& she waulks on the mountain while the sun gangs down

233

O Endinbro Katy's a beautifull girl
Her eye is rich auburn her teeth white as pearl
O Edinburough Katy's as red as a rose
As down the fair streets of the city she goes

O Edinburgh Katy[s] suns twa three & twenty
The stranger he luiks on her beauty sae dainty
& scarcely believes her as yet in her teens
& she scarcely can think what the strangers luik means
For Katy cant bear to be speerd at bye ony
Her shoulders sae broad & her bosom sae bonny
This Edinburough Katy's the lily sae dear
& the flower o' the city at the Spring o' the year

234

PETERBOROUGH MANUSCRIPT H23

[The sun is gone the shut of evening flowers]

The sun is gone the shut of evening flowers
Still mark by quiet shades the last of day
& dew drops fall to tell the silent hours
Till nights pitch darkness lessens into grey
Then all the deeper shadows pass away
The richest colours are but under-stains
The black turns crimson & the crimson grey
The sunny dew drops overspread the plains
If not ‘the greater’ like ‘the lesser rains’
O God methinks it were a happy life
To live among these hills the summer through
& never heed a house nor city strife
& see the sky get shelter from the dew
[I]t where a happy life as man ere knew
To dwell in such sweet places [OMITTED]

235

[The morning air is rich to meet]

The morning air is rich to meet
& sweetly hued the morning skies
The flower is by the hedge side sweet
& bright & clear are Nellys eyes
Sweet are the walks we take at eve
When setting suns withdraw their smiles
Look where I will I do believe
Theres nought as sweet as [Nelly Giles]

[Hw glrs s th smmr n ts prm]

Hw glrs s th smmr n ts prm
Th sn ll mldnss thgh t brns th skn
S sftnd b th brz t smmr tm
Lvl & lss smmr—v cms n
Wth dwfls fr th flwrs—t wr. sn
T fnd flt wth ths ssn f th yr
ll flwrs nd snshn & grn thngs cm n
ll ll fr mns dlght tll wntr drr
Shts p th chrm

236

[Where mossey oaks & hazel bushes gr[ow]]

Where mossey oaks & hazel bushes gr[ow]
Where the soft ring dove flyes on clapping wing
& little birds among the bushes sing

237

NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPTS 410, 411, 413, AND 414

[No more Blustery winter rages—]

No more Blustery winter rages—
Snow storms chill the plain no more
Lords & Ladies crowed the hedges
Budding cowslips throng the moor
Love & nature are reviving
Love & nature Sisters be
Birds new nests are contriving
Gaily hums the humble bee
The white Thorn Bushes buds are swelling
Woodbine leaves are nearly through
Hedge Sparrows loves first tales are telling
Where Lords & Ladies peep to view
And I'll away to bonny Susan
And see the Chaffinch build again
Its green places early chusing
Eer the pile weed burns again

238

[Could I retrace the pleasures of my years]

Could I retrace the pleasures of my years
Through all its changes of its joys & fears
Could I revisit all those scenes thats past
I'd make a dream so perfect as twod last

VALENTINE

A dew drop—on a rose leaf
The one will dry—the other fade
And time is like that silent thief
To rob the rosy blooming maid
But such plain truths I must decline
A sermon's not a Valentine—

I would say something very fine
But cannot fancy what to send
I've chose thee long my valentine
And this comes from a silent Friend
—Primroses and Hypathicas
I've gathered thee in earl[i]er days.

239

Cupids quivers, painted darts
Are ornaments for idle fancies
Flaming altars, bleeding hearts
Are not of love—but its romances
Yet spring's first flowers will well agree
With valentines I send to thee

The snowdrop—like to frozen dew
The crocus like a blazing star
The daiseys all the season through
Are Valentines so very rare
Some grow in gardens, some by brooks
And richly paint thy happy looks

The field flowers, they are heaven's smiles
Like sunbeams in the field of spring
Unused to sorrow, or to toils
Their minstrels are the birds who sing
With all their charms springs dress divine
I send thee Love a Valentine—

LOVE OF SOLITUDE

I love the raving winds, the murky gloom
And I love the sea
When ocean billows burst in frothy hum
And where they silent be

240

I love the rough and smooth of nature's voice
The quiet, and the rude
For Nature never had unpleasant voice
But sweet as Solitude

I love the tumult in the forest trees
And wood winds to hear
In nature's soul of quiet sympathies
There—ther's nought to fear
Nothing creating pain or harm
And no noises rude
The loud tongued thunder is a lovely charm
A companion in solitude—

The lightenings through the pathless shades
The hermit's thoughts may scare
He'll think upon those happy glades
Where love he used to share
Then lay him on his couch of leaves
After his evening prayer
Soon silence round his vision weaves
A host of pleasures there—

[These paintings, why they mock as if they spoke]

These paintings, why they mock as if they spoke
Talking loud music, like to things that live
The lips are parted as if silence broke—
Into sweet language—such delights they give
Such happy visions to our fancies weave

241

The cheek seems warmer in the maidens face
From our too ardent look—the bright eyes live
And look from out the canvas on the place
While the ruby lips seem mooving on the face

[_]

The attribution of this poem is questionable.

LAMENT TO FRIENDSHIP

Put on a dark and mournful veil,
Ye bright and balmy skies;
Hush! quell thy laughter merry gale,
Breathe soft; for Friendship dies!

Be still ye merry dancing leaves,
Ye host of little flies,
Lay by your music softest breeze,
Good heavens Friendship dies!

Bring now thy offerings sweetest flowers,
And spread them o'er the bed;
Come thou sweet Jesmine from thy bowers,
Come all, for Friendship's dead.

Ye Rose's weep your tears of dew,
Sweet Lily, bow your head;
Ye warbling throng, and feather'd crew,
Weep now for Friendship's dead!

And thou sweet little token flower,
Haste on to thy last bed,
Close thy bright eye from this sad hour,
And weep—For Friendship's dead.

242

Come Eglantine, and Violet blue,
Sweet Brier, and Rose's red;
Weep now thy odoreforous dew;
For Friendship—Friendship's dead!

Ye murmuring streams continue on,
Oer thy cold pibl'y bed,
Thy music tells of one that's gone,
Of Friendship—Friendships dead!

Ye Butterflies throw off that smile,
'Tis fit for those that wed;
Come join with us, and weep awhile!
Oer Hope, and Friendship dead!

Around the couch now take thy stand,
Weep for the spirit fled,
Join mourners all, join hand in hand,
For your sister, Friendship's dead.

Sweet token flowers and all that grieve
Ye have told your tale, and fled,
I'll gather up the withered leaves,
And scatter them o'er the dead.

[By the spring that shines so clear]

By the spring that shines so clear
By the flower that blossoms near
And every day—and every year
My life, and soul, I love thee

243

By the spring in shine and gloom
By the flower and its perfume
Thou art to me perpetual Bloom
My life, and soul, I love thee

By the sunbeams as I pass
By the wild flower in the grass
Thou art to me the bonniest lass
And fondly do I love thee

I love thee more than words pretend
Thou dearer than the dearest friend
And when my pilgrimage shall end
In heaven I hope to love thee

SONG

[O I love the bonny lassie]

O I love the bonny lassie
In her dress o' tartan plaid
By the burnie rinning glassie
I' the Sun or i' the shade
O I luv the scottish lassie
She is more then dear to me
As the blossoms to the grass is
& the berry to the Tree
O I love the young scotch lassie
She is very dear to me

The wild brere o' the mountain
The gowans o' the lea
The lilies o' the fountain
Are nae but flowers to me

244

But bonnie young Maria
Then a' the flowers I see
She sets my heart on fire
Wi' her ain sweet companie
& she burns me wi' desire
When her bonnie face I see

She's as sharp as ony brere
& pleasant as its bloom
She is handsome every where
& her gown is like the broom
Her gowns the yellow broom
& her face the blushing brere
Her cheeks have got the bloom
& she's handsome every where
& I'm welcome in her room
Where she sets the cushioned chair

What a winter fire she'll make
When I tarry as her guest
Wi' my arms about her neck
Then I kiss her into rest
Gin the hens are gone to bed
Gin the staple holds the pin
Gin the sparrows seek the shed
She will up & let me in
When I kiss & nothings sed
Rosey cheeks & lily skin

[The chelping Sparrows little pilfering thieve[s]]

The chelping Sparrows little pilfering thieve[s]
Fly from the wheat & hide in hedge row leaves

245

[My Phebe she is handsome wi back as white as milk]

My Phebe she is handsome wi back as white as milk
Her cheeks they are the very bloom that tarrys on the brere
The bubbies on her bosom they are as soft as silk
& Phebe is the bonny lass theres naebody sae dear
She's like a thing long kept & till we canna gie't awa'
& I'll luv my honest Phebe lang as I've breath to draw

[Dry stony banks are wreathed with Bindweed Flowers]

Dry stony banks are wreathed with Bindweed Flowers
The dry banks are wreathed in bindweed
& the hills are smoared wi goss seed
Where the lichen shades its fire
Wi the bracken & the moss
There every summer morning my bonny Phebe goes
& sits upon the thymey how & tends her twa three gows

246

[Good & substantial painter merits raise]

Good & substantial painter merits raise
Encouragement from censure into praise
On the plain canvass in poetic strife
Rich pictures rise from nothingness to life
Great in semplicity the pencil vies
Endearing nature with her simple dyes
Making the portraits look from out the frames
& almost speak in answer to their names
Yea Landscapes too & many a pleasant scene
Naked in winter grow to evergreen
Enjoy thy labours & relapse between

247

NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 9

SONG

[The meadows fill with cowslips]

The meadows fill with cowslips
The grass excessive green
Down oer the splashy slough dips
Where the Wagtail birds are seen
I walked there i' the morning
When awoke the early Bee
I went at evens dawning
For the Rose of Broomilea

Sweet Rose of Broomilea
How it scents the evening gale
Where sings the early Bee
While the other flowers turn pale
The silver daiseys there
Like easter white they be
But nothing upon earth's more fair
Then the Rose of Broomilea

How lily white her budding breast
Her eyes soft shade o' blue
The lovely Iris o' the west
Owns not a brighter hue

248

The emerald meadows oft I pass
When daylight shuts his e'e
& dewpearls hang each blade o' grass
For the Rose o' Broomilea

Like a white Lamp the evening Star
Shines oer the glimmering stream
When I return from courting her
Oer whom I fondly dream
Shine on thou mild bright evening light
Shine on oer lake & tree
While I am blest beneath thy sight
Wi' the Rose o' Broomilea

MR SONG BLLUDS

I'll come to thee at even tide
When the west is streaked wi grey
I'll wish the night thy charms to hide
& daylight all away
I'll come to thee at set o' sun
Where white thorns i' the May
I'll come to thee when work is done
& love thee till the day

When Daisey stars are all turned green
& all is meadow grass
I'll wander down the bank at e'en
& court the bonny Lass

249

The green banks & the rustleing sedge
I'll wander down at e'en
All slopeing to the waters edge
& in the water green

& theres the luscious meadow sweet
Beside the meadow drain
My lassie there I once did meet
Who I wish to meet again
The water lilies where in flower
The yellow & the white
I met her there at even's hour
& stood for half the night

We stood & loved in that green place
When sundays sun got low
Its beams reflected in her face
The fairest thing below
My sweet Ann Foot my bonny Ann
The Meadow banks are green
Meet me at even when you can
Be mine as you have been

250

[Is nothing less then naught—nothing is nought]

Is nothing less then naught—nothing is nought
& there is nothing less—but somthing is
Though next to nothing—that a Trifle seems
& such am I—yet Man no trifle is
Born an immortal Soul that cannot die
To Nothing—nor yet be nothing
That Soul is Man—born not of the Dust
Nor yet to dust returns—but born of God
Eternal as his Sire—living for ever
An immortal Soul

[Spring comes & it is may—white as are sheets]

Spring comes & it is may—white as are sheets
Each orchard shines besides its little town
Childern at every bush a poesy meets
Bluebells & primroses—wandering up & down
To hunt birds nests & flowers & a stones throw from town
& hear the blackbird in the coppice sing
Green spots appear like doubling a book down
To find the place agen & strange birds sing
We have [no] name for in the burst of Spring

251

The Sparrow comes & chelps about the Slates
& pops in to her hole beneath the Eaves
While the cock piegon amourously awaits
The Hen on barn ridge cooing & then leaves
With crop all ruffles—where the sower heaves
The hopper at his side his beans to sow
There he with timid coveys harmless thieves
& whirls around the teams & then drops low—
While plops the sudden Gun & great the overthrow

252

NORTHAMPTON MANUSCRIPT 10

[Some promises are broke as soon as made]

Some promises are broke as soon as made
& silent Love is sweet thats never spoken
The church yard grass looks pleasant where the maid
Looked Love in smiles in Memorys pleasing Token

SONG

[I went out wi' Eliza a bonny young lass]

I went out wi' Eliza a bonny young lass
To the church yard & back among the green grass
We toyed on the way while the morning sun shone
& I felt my heart ache when I wanderd alone

253

[In cant & mystery there lurks a wrong]

In cant & mystery there lurks a wrong
Poisonous as fangs within the Serpents head
The subtlest one to Priest craft does belong
They humbug till the living turn the dead
Hypocricy the highest holds her head
In Pulpit placed with fair & smirking face
With tongues newoiled & hearts as cold as lead
The priests descending into hells embrace
The surplus leaves & shows a harlots face

SONG

[My old Lover left me I knew not for why]

My old Lover left me I knew not for why
He left me wi' kisses I parted in tears
After painting my cheeks i' the rosey blooms dye
& swearing my eyes were the gems o' the spheres
My Lover has left me I knew not for why
Two years & three months he has wandered afar
The things that were hisn I've put them all bye
& from the fire corner removed the Arm chair
I once had a sweet heart I knew not for why
But I think I could love all the days o' my life
But he left me one morning like a bird i' th sky
The singing Lark dropt like a stone passing bye

O once I loved a pretty girl
Which caused my heart to ache
With ruby lips & teeth o' pearl
& eyes none could forsake
O she was fair & more then fair
A wild flower of the vale
None in the village could compare
With my sweet Susan Gale

Sweet is the bloom o' the wild brere
That scents the morning dew
& sweet the woodbine flowers appear
That hedges bring to view
Primroses in the old green lane
That scent the evening pale
But there's one flower as sweet again
My own Sweet Susan Gale

& when the colours graced his hat
She scarce dare turn her eye
Her kerchief hid her while she sat
But mony heard the sigh
She pue'd the heather on the brae
Where he lived natures lodger
They pue'd together mony a day
Ere he teuk on a sodger

& many a year has come & gane
Sin' nature luked sae cheery
But place's they went one tho' twain
Are lost & leuk sae dreary
The Hut it stan's upo' the hill
Where he lived natures lodger
And marry yet she never will
She cant forget the sodger

SONG On Occasion of the Queen's Visit to Northampton

The yellow trees had lost their green,
The fields were bare and brown,
But all got lively when the Queen
Was coming through the town.

261

The tradesman threw his apron bye,
The shepherd left the green,
The ploughman horses left, and kye,
And went to see the Queen.

There was such work as ne'er was seen,
Such running up and down,
For all got notions that the Queen
Was coming through the town.
The chimney sweep, he brushed about
And washed to make him clean,
The blacksmith let his fire go out
And ran to see the Queen.

In village hamlet ne'er was seen
Such running up and down,
All anxious when they heard the Queen
Was coming through the town.
The cook, she left her meat to burn,
To baste it none was seen,
The dairymaid too left her churn,
All ran to see the Queen.

262

SONG

[Young love is in the spring]

Young love is in the spring
In the bud before it flowers
In the songs the skylarks sing
In the hue of early flowers

In the violet dark & blue
When I found the first for thee
There was true love in its hue
& it grew in places free

In the bud on the white thorn
In night dews & suns of day
Love lies within unborn
For twill turn a bunch of may

Theres love about the grass
That waits for summer hours
For if there in may we pass
Twill all be turned to flowers

Love is in yonder cloud
& with skylarks when they sing
Love's silence blooms aloud
Tis in cowslips where they spring

Love is in early showers
Fast falling from above
We look on spring's first flowers
& we think of those we love

263

[& morning woke upon her healthy cheek]

& morning woke upon her healthy cheek
Sweeter then e'er was seen in morning sky
Bright was the rose that spread upon her cheek
& rich the landscape in her brighter eye
Herself was spring—the violet seemed to lie
As springing from her trample—where she walked
Bright was the sunlight in her sweet blue eye
As by her side the mornings shadow stalked
& all things round her path her fancys talked

[Justice is slow, but sure as Moses' rod]

Justice is slow, but sure as Moses' rod,
Engraven as the autograph of God;
Sent from on high by Him who is all wise,
Searcher of hearts, judge of the last assize;
Engraven on the hearts of honest men;

264

Heart-searcher in the felon's gloomy den.
Are there opposers to the laws of truth?
Learn justice well, while manhood is in youth;
Live honest lives, and that will bring the truth.

[Hnr thng dprtd nt shds]

[_]

On the reverse of the two-leaved quarto sheet appears the following text in consonant code.

Hnr thng dprtd nt shds
Fmlr spkn f lk dd mns nms
S f lv

[The chaffinch on the hedge row sings]

The chaffinch on the hedge row sings
The mattin bell from steeple rings
The rising sun its welcome brings
To dew bent flower & bee
Around thy chimney swallows sing
Beneath thy Eaves the sparrows cling
My love my dear
Awake & hear
Thy Love waits for thee

The linnet green as white thorn leaves
Of whool & moss a warm nest weaves
Where beds o' moss the dew recieves
& still appears as dry

265

The Robin from his root pops out
The brown hedge sparrow cheeps about
Wi' sky blue eggs in moss redoubt
On woodbriar arching high
My life my dear
Awake appear
Thy Lover waiteth nigh

SONG

[I' the sunshine o' the Season i' the spring time o' the year]

I' the sunshine o' the Season i' the spring time o' the year
When small birds find their songs agen & wilding flowers appear
When sunshine i' the blue sky was shineing all abroad
I met a lovely fair maid a going down the road
The Shepherds purse & groundsell too were breaking into bloom
& bumble Bees about the flowers beginning where to hum
I met my lovely Dinah a coming down the Glen
The envy o' the lasses & the favourite o' men

266

I met my lovely Dinah in her handsome gown o' Green
When her cheeks burnt like the rose bush as handsome as a queen
& all about the footpath the diseys silver stars
& pileworts golden studs whose burnish nothing mars
Where littered bye the pathside & all about the grass
& there I went with Dinah a beautifull young Lass
Accross the old inclosure where the birds began to sing
I courted lovely Dinah at the starting o' the Spring

I courted lovely Dinah & thus to her did say
My beautifull young creature sweeter then rose o' May
If you'll be mine love I'll be yours We'll tenderly agree
While the grass upon the ground is green & bloom bursts on the tree
To fondle in each others arms from rising sun till night
& mix untill we loose ourselves in ravishing delight
Where whitethorn shows its tender green & chaffinch builds its nest
O how I love to lean awhile on Dinahs happy breast

[Oh! who can tell the sweets of May-day morn]

Oh! who can tell the sweets of May-day morn,
To waken raptures in a feeling mind;
When the gilt East unveils her dappled dawn,
And the gay wood-lark has its nest resigned,

267

As slow the sun creeps up the hill behind;
Morn reddening round, and daylight's spotless hue,
As seemingly with rose and lily twined;
While all the prospect round beams fair to view,
Like a sweet opening flower, with its unsullied dew.

TO A FRIEND

Under hedges the violets are coming in bloom
& the Pilewort it shines like the Sun
The Spring it is bursting from the winters cold Tomb
& the sun of Life's smiles has begun

Tis Valentine's Day to morrow fair maid
& the Snowdrops are looking for thee
The Crocus has got his gold suit ready made
& hopes thy companion to be

268

So out of two sweethearts be sure & chuse one
While chusing is left to thy choice
For Valentine day only comes to be gone
& then true love will be left without voice

Giles Scroggins

John Clare Feby 13 1854

269

1. KNIGHT TRANSCRIPTS 1 VOLUME ONE

SONG

[I pluck summer blossoms]

1

I pluck summer blossoms,
And think of rich bosoms,
The bosoms I've leaned on; and worshiped and won;

270

The rich valley lillies,
The wood daffodillies,
Have been found in our rambles when Summer begun.

2

Where I plucked thee—the blue bell,
'Twas where the night dew fell,
And rested till morn, in the cups of the flowers;
I shook the sweet posies,
Blue bells and sweet roses,
As we sat in a cool shade in summers warm hours.

3

Bedlam-cowslips, and cuckoo's,
With freck'd-lip, and hook'd nose,
Growing safe 'neath the hazzle, of thicket and woods:
And water-blobs, ladies-smocks,
Blooming, where hay cocks
May be found in the meadows, low places, and floods.

4

And cowslips, a fair band,
For may-ball, or garland;
That bloom in the meadows, far as seen by the eye;
And pink-ragged-robbin,
Where the fish they are bobbing,
Their heads above water, to catch at the fly.

5

Wild-flowers, and wild roses:
'Tis love makes the posies,
To paint summer ballads, of meadow, and glen;
Floods can't drown it, nor turn it;
Even flames cannot burn it,
Let it bloom 'till we walk, the green meadows again.

May 1844.

271

GRAVES OF INFANTS

1

Infants graves are steps of angels, where
Earth's brightest gems of innocence repose;
God is their parent, they need no tear,
He takes them to his bosom from earth's woes;
A bud their life-time, and a flower their close.
Their spirits are an iris of the skies,
Needing no prayers—a sunset's happy close.
Gone are the bright rays of their soft blue eyes;
Dews on flowers mourn them, and the gale that sighs.

2

Their lives were nothing but a sunny shower,
Melting on flowers as tears melt from the eye:
Their death were dew-drops on heavens amaranthine bower;
'Twas told on flowers as summer gales went by.
They bowed, and trembled, yet they left no sigh,
And the sun smiled to show their end was well.
Infants have nought to weep for ere they die.
All prayers are needless—beads they need not tell;
White flowers their mourners are, nature their passing bell.

June 1844.

272

TO MISS C---

1

Thy glance is the brightest;
Thy voice is the sweetest;
Thy step is the lightest;
Thy shape the compleatest;
Thy waist, I could span dear;
Thy neck's like a swan's dear;
And roses the sweetest,
On thy cheek's do appear.

2

The music of spring,
Is the voice of my charmer;
When the nightingales sing,
She's as sweet;—who would harm her;
Where the snowdrop, and lily lies,
They shew her face:—but her eyes,
Are the dark clouds,—(yet warmer)—
From which the quick lightning flies,—
O'er the face of my charmer.

3

Her face is the snowdrop,
So pure on its stem,
And love in her bosom,
She wears as a gem.
She is young as spring flowers,
And sweet as may showers,
Swelling the clover buds, bending the stem,
She's the sweetest of blossoms; she's loves favorite gem.

273

SONG

[By all those token flowers that spring]

By all those token flowers that spring;
To lovers welcome thoughts still bring,
Forget-me-not's of heavenly blue:
I love the leal and true.

By the speedwell's silver eye,
Looking hopes upon the sky,
By all these token blooms that tell,
My fondness sends speedwell.

By the hare-bell's hazure sky,
(Like the hue of thy bright eye;)
That grows in woods, and groves so fair,
Where love I'd meet thee there.

By the violets sweet perfume;
By the primrose in its bloom;
For thy bosom, and thy hair,
I love thee maiden fair.

By the daisy on the green;
By the crow flowers golden shene;
Flowers I gathered when a boy,
Thou art loves earliest toy.

By all the blooms of spring that tell,
In silent language love so well;
Those flowers of yellow, white, and blue;
I love the leal and true.

274

TO LIBERTY

1

O spirit of the wind and sky;
Where doth thy harp neglected lie?
Is there no heart thy bard to be,
To wake that soul of melody;
Is liberty herself a slave?
No God forbids it, On ye brave;

2

I've loved thee, as the common air,
And paid thee worship every where;
In every soil beneath the sun,
Thy simple song, my heart has won;
And art thou silent! still a slave?
And thy son's living; On ye brave.

3

Gather on mountain, and on plain,
Make gossamer the iron chain,
Make prison walls as paper screen,
That tyrant maskers may be seen;
Let earth, as well as heaven be free,
So, on ye brave for liberty.

4

I've loved thy being from a boy,
The highland hills was once my joy;
Then morning mists did round them lie,
Like sunshine in the happiest sky.
Her hills, and valleys, seemed my own,
When Scottish land was freedom's throne.

275

5

And Scottish land is freedom's still;
Her beacon fires on every hill,
Have told in characters of flame,
Her ancient birthright, and her fame;
A thousand hills will speak again,
In fire, that language ever plain.

6

To sychop[h]ants, and fawning knaves,
That Scotland, ne'er was made for slaves.—
Her fruitful vales, her mountain thrones,
Are ruled by natures laws alone:
And nought but falshoods poisoned breath,
Will urge the Claymore from its sheath.

7

O spirit of the wind and sky,
Where doth thy harp neglected lie;
Is there no heart thy bard to be,
To wake that soul of melody;
Is liberty herself a slave,
No God forbids it—on ye brave!

July 9th 1844

TO HIS WIFE

1

In my young days, I pluck't a rose;
It grew upon a pleasant tree,—
No prickles on its stem arose,—
It never wounded me.

276

2

It grew upon a pleasant spot;
On mountain heath so fair,
And pleasant was the little cot;
Near which it flourished there.

3

I knew it when a blooming bud,
Nursed by the morning dew,
I knew the cottage where it stood,
And beautiful it grew.

4

Flowers on the hills had grown,
The woods were all in tune,
The bud became full blown;
The sweetest rose of June.

5

I saw it every day,
A hue that health will seek;
There's such a rose in May,
Comes on the maidens cheek.

6

I went again in spring;
'Twas somewere near the may,
Birds had begun to sing,—
When I took the rose away.

7

I planted it with care,
I watched it bloom from ill,
It scented all the air,
And blossoms sweeter still.

277

LOVE'S PAINS

1

This love, I canna' bear it,
It cheats me night and day;
This love, I canna' wear it,
It takes my peace away.

2

This love, wa' once a flower;
But now it is a thorn,—
The joy o' evening hour,
Turn'd to a pain e're morn.

3

This love, it wa' a bud,
And a secret known to me;
Like a flower within a wood;
Like a nest within a tree.

4

This love, wrong understood,
Oft' turned my joy to pain;
I tried to throw away the bud,
But the blossom would remain.

July 13th 1844

278

LOVE

1

Love is a secret;
Like a bird in a shell;
Like a rose ere it blossom,—
All unseen will it dwell.

2

'Tis the kernel of fruits,
The germ of all flowers,
The blaze of the diamond,
The moment of hours.

3

'Tis the star in night's darkness,
The sky in the river,
The soul in mans bosom,—
That wears it for ever.

4

'Tis a word and the dearest,—
Each language has shown;
'Tis a thought the sincerest,
Any tongue has made known.—

5

'Tis a flower in a basket,—
All bloom and perfuming:
'Tis the gem of the casket,
Love, beauty, and woman.

279

I'VE HAD MANY & CR

1

I've had many an aching pain,
A for sake o' somebody:
I have talked, but o' in vain,
When I thought o' somebody.

2

Nought could please me any where,
I could heed nor smile, nor tear;
And yet I sighed, for half a year!
And that for sake o' somebody.

3

She was like the lily fair,
The rose it blushed, for somebody;
Her neck was white, her cheek was rare,
I wot it smiled on somebody;—

4

Here's good luck to somebody;
And best o' health for somebody;
The dearest thought I keep mysell,
I keep for sake o' somebody.

July 17th 1844.

280

SCOTLAND

1

My heart is in Scotland, wi' nature sae grand,
Which seemed to me aince, my ain happy land:
When I gazed on the blue lake, and clomb the high brow;
It was my ain land then, and sae' it seems now.

2

I lov'd thee auld Scotland;—the mountain and flood;
I lov'd the famed spots, where thy standard aince stood;
The blood fields of Flodden, and famed Bannockburn;
And I wish her foes visits may never return.—

3

I love thee auld Scotland, the mountain and glen,
The bonniest o' lasses, and hailest o' men;
I love thy scotch beauties, in tartans sae bra,
The sweetest o' women, the world ever saw.

4

My heart's in thee Scotland, my heart's I' the north,
The birthplace o' valor, the country o' worth;
In lands 'yont the sun;—and wherever I rove,
Thy health, and prosperity,—'tis Scotland I love.

5

Here's a health to auld Scotland, I ne'er wish her ill,
I left her in freedom, and wish her free still;
Let her earn her ain living, and wear her ain claes,
And her worst lot be still, wi' her second hand faes.

July 18th 1844

281

HAYMAKING

1

Among the meadow hay cocks
'Tis beautiful to lie
When pleasantly the day looks
And gold like is the sky

2

How lovely looks the hay-swarth
When turning to the sun
How richly looks the dark path
When the rickings all are done

3

There's nothing looks more lovely
As a meadow field in cock
There's nothing sounds more sweetly
As the evenings six o' clock

4

There's nothing sounds so welcome
As their singing at their toil
Sweet maidens with tan'd faces
And bosoms fit to broil

5

And its beautiful to look on
How the hay-cleared meadow lies
How the sun pours down his welcome heat
Like gold from yonder skies

282

6

There's a calm upon the level
When the sun is getting low
Smooth as a lawn is the green level
Save where swarths their pointings shew

7

There the mother makes a journey
With a babbie at her breast
While the sun is fit to burn ye
On the sabath day at rest

8

There's nothing like such beauty
With a woman ere compares
Unless the love within her arms
The infant which she heirs.

SONG

[Sweet the sun shines on the wild heaving sea]

1

Sweet the sun shines on the wild heaving sea;
Sweet heaves the wind, oer the dark waving tree;
There, sweet the bright sun smiles,
There, gladly lorn labour toils,
While the sea waves, and boils;
All the long day.

283

2

And hither my Katie roams down the lone glen,
'Mong moor's, and 'mong mountains, and far fra' a men—,
Sweet is her shape, and air,
O she is more than fair,
While the burn' dances there,
Down the green brae.—

EVENING

The cool of evening is the hour of heaven
The time earth holds communion with the sky
When angels thoughts to evening walks are given
And wispering in the hedges round us lie
Like heaven talking in our infancy
One sweet soft cupola appears the clouds
Purple and rose and gold far west doth lie
May blossoms on the hedges sleep in crowds
And evening rests in days retiring shrouds

Days restorative toils repose the hour
When infants cradle on the mothers breast
Like roses in the dews yet half in flower
While day yet lingers in the golden west
Beasts to their sheds, the small birds to their nest,

284

Clouds to the trees, dews to the flowers are given
The dews like cordials fall on toil and rest
The dog-rose glistens wi' the dews of even
And peace reposes in the midst of heaven

It is the hour the lover meets his heart
At least the maid who keeps it in her breast
It is the hour that lovers will impart
Their heart's own secret 'ere the hour of rest
It is the hour the social life likes best
When neighbours, children, wife and husband meet
The hour when blessings they are doubly bless't
The hour when dews are brushed by lovers feet
The soft still hour when lov'd and happy meet

SONG ‘Thou'rt mine Love’

1

Thou'rt mine Love, in gladness;
In sickness, and sorrow;
Oh!—the love of to day,
Shall not change with the morrow,
While the bright mirror'd sky,
Is pourtray'd in the river:
While there's light in thine eye,
Thou'rt mine love for ever.

285

2

My delight's in thy keeping,
In daylight and gloaming;
I dream of thee sleeping,
And think of thee roaming.
Thou'rt mine love in gladness,
In sickness, and sorrow;
Oh! the smile of to day,
Shall not change with the morrow.

July 21st 1844

SONG O wert thou in the storm

1

O wert thou in the storm,
How I would shield thee:
To keep thee dry and warm,
A camp I would build thee.

2

Though the clouds pour'd again,
Not a drop should harm thee;
The music of wind, and rain,
Rather should charm thee.

3

O wert thou in the storm,
A shed I would build thee;
To keep thee dry and warm,—
How I would shield thee.—

286

4

The rain should not wet thee,
Nor thunder clap harm thee.
By thy side I would sit me,—
To comfort, and warm thee.

5

I would sit by thy side love,
While the dread storm was over;—
And the wings of an angel,
My charmer would cover.

July 25th 1844

SONG To Harriett

1

The tresses of thy glossy hair,
As dark as is the ravens wing;
When flying in the sunny air,
Beneath the marble clouds of spring:
'Tis dark, nay black, as starless night;
Or glossy beauties softest light.

2

The thunder tempest near the sun,
Wears awful darkness, on its breast;
Thy glossy hair as black, has none,—
But softest hues where love could rest.
Thy neck, and face, was snowy fair,
But beauty was her coal black hair.

287

3

Like darkness in a sunny sky,
It lay upon her neck in light:
As black clouds over sunbeams lie;
'Till her white skin, seemed doubly white:—
While the rich light in those black eyes,
Outshone the sun in summer skies.—

FORGET-ME-NOT

1

The blue flower, Forget-me-not:
What can it mean love,
Growing near the river grot,
In meadows green love.

2

The flowers they are heaven's blue,
And bright like thee love:
When e'er these flowers you view,
Then think of me love.

3

In the morning then dearest,
Think of me when thou'rt roaming,
In the spring meadow, fairest,
Or the grove in the gloaming.

288

4

By the river at noon love,
Blue Forget-me-nots see;
By the light of the moon love,
In its hue think of me:

5

By the sweet walks of evening;
By the stars in the sky;
By the moon when its beaming;
By the sun when its high.

6

Heavens poesy is talking,
In the evening of thee;
And when thou art walking,
Sweet --- think of me.

July 28th 1844.

SUSAN DOWN THE LANE

1

Oh! happy memories, what are ye
But welcome flowers of spring;
The thoughts o' love, and melody,
Your early visits bring.
I've sung o' maids, and called them flowers;
And so I will again,—
The sweetest o' the summer hours,
Was with Susan down the lane.

289

2

She's like the hedge rose, white and red,
Where spring and summer meet:—
The violets by the woodland shed,
No flower can be more sweet.
Its eye is dew drop's, silver grey,
Or blebs of sunny rain.—
Yet dearer than these flowers of May,
Is Susan down the lane.

3

How sweet the summer flowers appear,
In many a secret place:
But still the fairest of the year,
Is Susan's bonny face:
The wild-hedge-rose, is fair and sweet,
In a summers shower of rain—
But the sweetest flower I e're could meet
Was Susan down the lane.

4

Those happy memories summer hours,
Those violets of the wood;
That hedge of sweet-briar, hung with showers;
That by her cottage stood,
Than sweet briar hedge, or summer showers,
There's one as sweet again:
The fairest flower on meads, or bowers,
Is Susan down the lane.

290

SONG

[Farewell! auld Scotland, hills, and moors]

1

Farewell! auld Scotland, hills, and moors;
I bid ye a' farewell!
I'm like a Scott; turned out o' doors,
In other lands to dwell.
Sae mopingly, and hopelessly;—
Do I now gang awa',
Ye banks, and braes,—I leave mysell,
In taking leave of a'—.

2

Farewell to Scotlands hills, that leuk,
To hills ayont the sea;
Farewell to Scotland, like a beuk;
Homes hospitality:
Sojourning, and mourning,
I leave thy hills, and muirs,
And frae the world a brother Scott,
I seem turned out of doors.

291

MARY

1

It is the evening hour,
How silent all doth lie,
The horned moon she shews her face,
In the river, with the sky;
Just by the path on which we pass,
The flaggy lake, lies still, as glass.

2

Spirit of her I love,
Wispering to me:
Stories of sweet visions, as I rove:
Here stop and crop with me,
Sweet flowers, that in the still hour grew,
We'll take them home, nor shake off the bright dew.

3

Mary, or sweet spirit of thee,
As the bright sun shines tomorrow;
Thy dark eyes these flowers shall see,
Gathered by me in sorrow,
In the still hour, when my mind was free,
To walk alone—yet wish I walk'd with thee.

292

SONG

[The rose of the morning,—]

1

The rose of the morning,—
Is laden wi' dew;
But the rose o' the evening—
Is sweetest to view:
At the sweet hour o' sunset,
How lovely the gloaming;
To watch the young moon set,—
Wi' a sweet lassie roaming.

2

Then the thistles hangs cobwebs,
The wild brier its dew,
While the bee on the knob-weed—
Looks drowsily too;—
'Tis sweet at the sunset—
O'er the fields to be roaming,
And watch the bright moon set—
Wi' a lassie at gloaming;

3

How lovely the fields look
All beaded wi' dew
Sweet the grass in the bield-newk
Where the wren hides from view
Such scenes have a gem still
I love in the gloaming
On the green sward I would lie still
Or with a lassie be roaming.

293

4

If she talks very kind too,
How sweet is the weather:
When we both in a mind go;—
Out walking together;
The bird on its nest she,
Will praise, when we're roaming;
The flower I like best she,
Will take home at gloaming.

5

The rose of the morning,
Is laden wi' dew,
But the rose of the evening,
Is sweetest to view:
At the sweet hour o' sunset,—
How sweet in the gloaming;
To watch the young moon set,
Wi' a sweet lassie roaming.

STANZAS

[Black absence hides upon the past]

1

Black absence hides upon the past
I quite forget thy face
And memory like the angry blast
Will love's last smile erace
I try to think of what has been
But all is blank to me
And other faces pass between
My early love and thee

294

2

I try to trace thy memory now
And only find thy name
Those inky lashes on thy brow
Black hair, and eyes the same
Thy round pale face of snowy dyes
There's nothing paints thee there
A darkness comes before my eyes
For nothing seems so fair

3

I knew thy name so sweet and young
'Twas music to my ears
A silent word upon my tongue
A hidden thought for years
Dark hair and lashes swarthy too
Arched on thy forehead pale
All else is vanished from my view
Like voices on the gale

TO MARY

1

I sleep with thee, and wake with thee,
And yet thou art not there:—
I fill my arms, with thoughts of thee,
And press the common air.—
Thy eyes are gazing upon mine,
When thou art out of sight;
My lips are always touching thine,
At morning, noon, and night.

295

2

I think, and speak of other things,
To keep my mind at rest:
But still to thee, my memory clings,
Like love in womans breast;—
I hide it from the worlds-wide eye;
And think, and speak contrary;
But soft, the wind comes from the sky,
And wispers tales of Mary.—

3

The night wind wispers in my ear,
The moon shines in my face;
A burden still of chilling fear,
I find in every place.—
The breeze is wispering in the bush;
And the dew-fall from the tree,
All; sighing on, and will not hush,
Some pleasant tales of thee.—

SONG

[Wher hae ye been sae far awae]

1

Wher hae ye been sae far awae
My fair creature?
I've been by the mountain side
Whar the siller burnie glide
I've been looking far, and wide
Farest creature

296

2

And what whar ye lurking there
Dearest creature
I leuk'd ayont the sunny know
Where the yellow gowans grow
And then she blush'd and turn'd to go
Dearest creature

3

And what gaed ye, to leuk for there
My fairest creature
I gaed to leuk ayont the know
For aine I saw some days ago
In tartan plaid fra' top to toe
And brown his feature

4

He leuk'd sa' kind the tother e'en
And said fair creature
My heart leap'd fra' my bosom clean
I blush'd but it whar a' unseen
As mountain brere that blooms at e'en
Brown whar his feature

5

Then I'm the leuky mon to sae
Fairest creature
That bright ene I think on't well
I clasp'd her waist 'twas me mysell
What I might do, I may not tell
I kiss'd the fairest creature

Augst 20th 1844

297

A VISION

1

I lost the love, of heaven above;
I spurn'd the lust, of earth below;
I felt the sweets of fancied love,—
And hell itself my only foe.

2

I lost earths joys, but felt the glow,
Of heaven's flame abound in me:
'Till loveliness, and I did grow,
The bard of immortality.

3

I loved, but woman fell away;
I hid me, from her faded fame:
I snatch'd the sun's eternal ray,—
And wrote 'till earth was but a name.

4

In every language upon earth,
On every shore, o'er every sea;
I gave my name immortal birth,
And kep't my spirit with the free.

Augst 2nd 1844

298

SONG

[The bearded rye was in the row]

1

The bearded rye was in the row,
The lintel in the pod;
No grass without its sod did grow,
No peas without a pod.
Between the Lammas open tide,—
And harvest getting in,
When Jockey walked by Jenny's side,
His courting to begin.

2

My dear saith he you are sa sweet,
Your face it is sa fair,—
Your bonnet bow is tied so neat,
I'm in love I do declair.
Here Jenny love, and dot no sin,
That rye is in the ear,—
And e're it comes in ear again,
Shall I have o'at to fear?—

3

Na' Jockey lad your tongue's o'er glib,
Such things I dinna tell,
Your pen will want a better knib,
To write love-letters well.—
I know the rye is in the ear,
But that I canna tell,
For what may hap anether year,—
Are secrets to my sell.

299

4

But Jenny love is like the bloom,
Of these sweet simmer flowers;
And if na' more the like should come,
Where leuk for happy hours.—
War' these same fields o' corn and rye,
The last that would be sown;—
War my last hopes o' thee to die;
Where would my joy be known.

5

Then Jenny answered Jockey well;
And waited no reply,
My joy I make to please my sell,—
Nor loose it all to sigh.—
There's mony a harvest to be met,—
And other fields o' rye:
And I'm o'er young to marry yet,
But I'll do't before I die.

THE MAID OF JERUSALEM

1

Maid of Jerusalem, by the Dead Sea
I wandered all sorrowful thinking of thee;—
Thy city in ruins; thy kingdom deplored,—
All fallen and lost by the Ottoman's sword.

300

2

I saw thee sit there in disconsolate sighs
Where the hall of thy father's a ruined heap lies;
Thy fair fingers shewed me the place where they trod
In thy childhood, when flourished the kingdom of God.

3

The place where they fell, and the scenes where they lie,
In the tombs of Siloa;—(the tear in her eye
She stifled,—transfix'd there, it grew like a pearl,
Beneath the dark lash of the sweet Jewish girl).

4

Jerusalem is fallen;—still thou art in bloom,
As fresh as the ivy around the lone tomb,
And fair as the lily of morning that waves
Its sweet scented bells o'er the desolate graves.

5

When I think of Jerusalem in kingdoms yet free,
I shall think of its ruins, and think upon thee,
Thou beautiful Jewess!—content thou may'st roam,
A bright spot in Eden still blooms as thy home.—

301

A VALENTINE

1

Here's a valentine nosegay for Mary,
Some of springs early flowers;
The ivy is green by the dairy,
And so are these laurels of ours.—
Though the snow fell so deep, and the winter was dreary,
The laurels are green, and the sparrows are cheery.

2

The snowdrops in bunches grow under the rose;
And aconites under the lilac like fairies;
The best in the bunches for Mary I chose;—
Their looks are as sweet, and as simple as Mary's;
The one will make spring, in my verses so bare,
The other will set off, and braid thy dark hair.

3

Red primroses too, at the old parlour end,
Have bloom'd all the winter, ‘mid’ snow's cold and dreary,
Where the lavender cotton kept off the cold wind
Now to shine in my Valentine nosegay for Mary.
And shine in my verses all summer and be,
A memento of fondness, and friendship for thee.

302

4

Here's the crocus half opened, that spreads into gold;
Like branches of sunbeams left there by a fairy,
I pluck them as such, in these verses so cold,
But they'l bloom twice as bright, in the presence of Mary.
These garden flowers cropt, I will go to the fields,
And see what the valleys and pasture land yields.

5

Here's the pale primrose, on the skirts of the wild wood,
And violet blue, 'neath the thorn on the green:
The wild flowers we pluck't, in the days of our childhood,
On the very same spot, as no changes had been!
In the very same place, where the sun kiss'd the leaves,
And the woodbine its branches, with thorns interweaves.

6

And here in the pasture all swarming with rushes,
Is a cowslip, as blooming and forward as spring,
And the pilewort like sunshine, glows under the bushes
While the chaffinch there sitting is trying to sing.
And the daisies are comeing, called ‘stars of the earth’;
To bring to the school-boy his spring time of mirth.

7

Here is the nosegay—how simple it shines,
It speaks without words, to the ear and the eye:
The flowers of the spring, are the best Valentines,
They are young, fair, and simple, and pleasingly shy.

303

That you may remain so, and ne'er act contrary,
I send you these flowers, as a Valentine Mary.

APRIL

1

In April time, flowers come like dreams;—
The nightingales, and cuckoo's sing,—
The may-fly setling on the streams,
Makes wrinkles with its russet wing:—
The rivers sedge is sprouting green,
The mare-blobs are in burnished gold,
The daisies spread about the green,
And all is lovely to behold.—

2

The skylark winnows in the air,
And cheers the valley with his song;
The slopes are green, the scene is fair,
And herd-boys whistle all day long.
The ash tree's they are full of flower,
The fallen ones float on the stream;
The sun through haze like misty shower,
Shines warmly on the lovely scene.

3

The meadows they are emerald green,
The river sparkles with the light;—
Like snow storms are the orchard seen;—
The fields are with daisies white,

304

The buttercups are buds of green;—
That bye-and bye-are flowers of Gold,
The fields look warm, the air serene,
And all is lovely to behold.

4

'Tis spring the april of the year,
The holiday of birds and flowers,
Some build ere yet the leaves appear,
While others wait for safer hours:—
Hid in green leaves that shun the shower,
They're safe and happy all along—
The meanest weed now finds a flower,
The simplest bird will learn a song.

EVENING

1

'Tis evening, the black snail has got on his track,
And gone to its nest is the wren;—
And the packman snail too, with his home on his back;
Clings on the bowed bents like a wen.

2

The shepherd has made a rude mark with his foot,
Where his shaddow reached when he first came;
And it just touched the tree where his secret love cut,
Two letters that stand for love's name.

305

3

The evening comes in with the wishes of love;—
And the shepherd he looks on the flowers;—
And thinks who would praise the soft song of the dove,
And meet joy in these dewfalling hours.

4

For nature is love, and the wishers of love;
When nothing can hear or intrude;
It hides from the eagle, and joins with the dove:
In beautiful green solitude.

THE WALK

1

The lonesome wood anemonie,
Now trembles in the gale;
And bows in wood, and meadow lea,
Like maidens all so pale.
So Mary let the flowers be thine,
And we'll together go
Where they in quaking clusters shine,
And brimming rivers flow.—

2

The beauties they of early spring,
A fairer beauty thou:
We'll gather them as fairy things,
To deck thy lovely brow,
We'll wander by the river side;
With waters flowing o'er:
We'll trace the marshes far and wide,
And talk love stories o'er.

306

3

For there's the bright-march-marygold
Like sun-rays from the west,
They'll shine like gold in thy black hair;
Or broach upon thy breast.
And though the stooping willow tree,
Shews not one leaf of gray,
The grassy sward has charms for thee,
And sunny is the day.

4

So come my dearest Mary Ann,
And meet the morning air;
The larks are doing all they can,
To cheer thee, young, and fair;—
We'll crop the large marsh marygold,
And wood anemonie;
Sweet is the morning, free from cold,
And music's in each tree.

And when it comes, a summer shower;
It still will go from flower, to flower;
Then underneath the rushes,—
It sees the silver daisy flower,
And there it spends a little hour
Then hides among the bushes
But whence they come from, where they go
None but the wiser schoolboy's know.

TO THE LARK

Bird of the morn
When roseate clouds begin
To shew the opening dawn
Thy singing does begin
& oer the sweet green fields & happy vales
Thy pleasant song is heard mixed with the morning gales

310

Bird of the morn
What time the ruddy sun
Smiles on the pleasant corn
Thy singing is begun
Heartfelt & cheering over labours toil
Who chop in coppice wild & delve the russet soil

Bird of the sun
How beautifull art thou
When morning has begun
To gild the mountains brow
How beautifull it is to see thee soar so blest
Winnowing thy russet wings above thy twitchy nest

Bird of the summers day
How oft I stand to hear
Thee sing thy airy way
With music wild & clear
Till thou becomes a speck upon the sky
Small as those clods that crumble where I lye

Thou bird of happiest song
The spring & summer too
Is thine the months along
The woods & vales to view
If climes were ever green thy song would be
The sunny music of eternal glee

311

SONNET

[Enough of misery keeps my heart alive]

Enough of misery keeps my heart alive
To make it feel more mental agony
Till even life itself becomes all pain
And bondage more than hell to keep alive
And still I live, nor murmer nor complain
Save that the bonds which hold me may make free
My lonely solitude, and give me rest
When every foe hath ceased to trouble me
On the soft throbbings of a womans breast
Where love and truth and feeling live confest
The little cottage with those bonds of joy
My family—lifes blood within my breast
Is not more dear—than is each girl and boy
Which time matures and nothing can destroy.

JESSY

1

When the sabbath it comes to the green
The maidens are there in their best
But Jessy is not to be seen
Though I walk till the sun's in the west
I fancy still each wood and plain
Where I and Jessy strayed
Then I was a country swain
And she a happy maid

312

2

But woods and wilds are lonely now
Their wild flowers blow unseen
The birds sing lone upon the bough
Where Jessy once had been
But now through months she keeps away
And I am lone behind
Trees tell me so from day to day
When waving in the wind

3

Birds tell me so upon the bough
That I'm threadbare now and old
The very sun looks on me now
A being dead and cold
I had a place where I could rest
And love and quiet be
That quiet place was Jessy's breast
And still a hope to me

4

The spring comes brighter day by day
And brighter flowers appear
And though she ever keeps away
Her name is ever here
Jessy's love is so dear to my bosom
I wonder what tempts her to stay
The white thorn will soon be in blossom
And we may be married by May

313

SONNET

[Poets love nature, and themselves are love]

Poets love nature, and themselves are love;
The scorn of fools, and mock of idle pride
The vile in nature worthless deeds approve
They court the vile, and spurn all good beside
Poets love nature, like the calm of heaven
Her gifts like heaven's love spread far and wide
In all her works there are no signs of leaven
Sorrow abashes from her simple pride
Her flowers like pleasures have their seasons birth
And bloom through region[s] here below
They are her very scriptures upon earth
And teach us simple mirth where e'er we go
Even in prison they can solace me
For where they bloom God is, and I am free.

MARY

1

'Tis April and the morning love
Awakes in balmy dew
Flowers are the meads adorning love
In yellow white and blue
And if thy heart is true my love
As true it used to be
Then leave thy cot and kye my love
And walk the fields with me

314

2

And we will walk the meadow love
And we will walk the grove
And by the winding river love
We'll walk and talk of love
And by the white thorn bushes love
Just budding into green
Where the shaded fountain rushes love
We'll steal a kiss unseen

3

Where the daisey on the brink my love
Stands peeping in the flood
And the blackcap flies to drink my love
That whistles in the wood
Where the crowflower like the sun my love
Shines in the grass so green
Let's go where waters run my love
And live and love unseen

4

And live and love unseen my dear
For one sweet April day
Drear winter seems to last a year
While Mary is away
Where we can see and not be seen
By woods or shady grove
Or by the hawthorn's tender green
Let's meet, and live and love

315

THE SKYLARK

1

Although I am in prison
Thy song is uprisen
And singing away to the cloud
In the blueness of morn
Over fields of green corn
With a song sweet rural and loud

2

When the day is serenest
When the corn is the greenest
Thy bosom mounts up to the light
And sings in the sun
Like a vision begun
Of Pleasure and lonely delight

3

The daiseys they whiten
Plains where the suns brighten
And warmeth thy nest where thy russet eggs lie
From whence thou'rt now springing
And the air it is ringing
To show that the minstrel of spring is on high

4

The cornflower is blooming
The cowslip is coming
And many new buds on the silken grass lie
On the earth's grassy breast
Thou hast left thy brown nest
And towering above it a speck in the sky

316

5

Thou'rt the herald of sunshine
And the soft dewy moonshine
Gilds sweetly the sleep of thy brown speckled breast
Thou'rt the bard of the spring
On thy brown russet wing
And of each grassy close thou'rt the poet and guest

6

There's the violet confiding
In the mossy wood riding
And primrose beneath the old thorn in the glen
And daiseys that go to bed
In the old sheltered homestead
Old friends with old faces I see them again

7

And thou feathered poet
I see thee, and know it
Thou'rt one of the minstrels that cheered me last spring
With nature thou'rt blest
And green grass round thy nest
Will keep thee still happy to mount up and sing

THE HEATH

1

I love the heath, where spring had used to lie,—
In boyhood 'neath her aromatic showers;
Where maidens walked so beautifully shy,—
Akin to nothing but the blooming flowers.

317

2

The rabits from the furze would squat, and run;
The daiseys filling every open space;
And crowds of kingcups golden as the sun,
Shone on the molehills of that happy place.—

FLOWERS AND SPRING

1

And has the spring's all glorious eye,
No lesson to the mind?
The birds that cleave the golden sky,
Things to the earth resigned;
Wild flowers that dance to every wind,
Do they no memory leave behind?

2

Aye flowers, the very name of flowers,
That bloom in wood and glen;
Bring spring to me in winter hours,
And childhoods dreams again:
The primrose on the woodland lea,
Was more than wealth, and gold to me.

3

The violets by the woodland side,
As thick as they could snive,
Ive talked to them with childish pride,
As things that were alive.
I find them now in mans distress,
They seem as sweet, yet valueless.

318

4

The cowslips on the meadow lea,
How have I run for them:
I looked with wild and childish glee,
Upon each golden gem:
And when they bowed their heads so shy,
I laughed and thought they danced for joy.

5

And when a man, in early years,
How sweet they used to come;
And give me tales of smiles and tears,
And thoughts more dear than home:
Secrets which words would then reprove,
They told the names of early love.

6

The primrose turned a babbling flower,
Within its sweet recess:
I blushed to see their secret bower,
And turned her name to bless.
The violet said the eyes were blue,
I loved, and did they tell me true?

7

The cowslip in meadows every where,—
My hearts own thoughts would steal.
I nip't them 'cause they should not hear;
They smiled, and would reveal.
And o'er each meadow right or wrong;
They sing the name I've worshiped long.

8

The brooks that mirrored clear the sky,
Full well I know the spot.
The mouse ear looked with bright blue eye,
And said forget me not.
And from the brook I turn'd away,
But heard it many an after day.

319

9

The kingcup on its slender stalk,
Within the pasture dell;
Would picture there a pleasant walk,
With one I loved so well.
They said how sweet at eventide,
'Twould be with true love at thy side.

10

And on the pastures woody knoll,
I saw the wild blue-bell;
On sundays when I used to stroll,
With her I loved so well.
She culled their flowers the year before,
These bowed, and told the story o'er.

11

And every flower, that had a name,
Would tell me who was fair,
But those without, as strangers came,
And blossomed silent there:
I stood to hear but all alone,
They bloomed and kept their thoughts unknown.

12

But seasons now have nought to say,
The flowers no news to bring;
Alone I live from day to day,
Flowers seem the bier of spring;
And birds upon the bush, or tree,
All sing a different tale to me!

320

SWEET JESSY

1

Winter is nearly spent
And gone to the desert of gloom
Sweet spring her heralds hath sent
Gay flowers in the valley to bloom
Where the sun turns to gold on the grass
And the flowers turn to stars in the night
The land and the sea and the air
Bids welcome to spring coming there
And my heart biddeth welcome to thee my delight
Sweet Jessy

2

I knew her in her childhood
In scenes from strife and noise
When singing to the wild wood
Tales and songs of childish joys
Making playmates of flowers as she lay
And talking to birds as they flew
O'er the molehill of thyme all the day
Her voice and her features were known
I went up and called her mine own
Sweet Jessy

321

3

Thou'rt as young in mine eye
As thy bridal day smile
In my heart thou shalt lie
Though the world may beguile
The dreams of thy childhood are dearest to me
And the very night smiles with the memory of thee
Sweet Jessy

THE RAREE SHOW

1

God bless us theres a mort to do
'Bout Princes, and 'bout Queens
Let's go and see the raree show
And tell 'em what it means
'Twas thus to Richard Robin sed
And Robin made reply
I'll think on't when I go to bed
Sed Richard so will I

2

When morning came they both agree'd
To leave the village green
And see the sights of which we read
About the Prince and Queen

322

They went—and such a mort o' sights
And such a mort of shows
They stayed till all the lamps and lights
Shone in the streets in rows

3

They saw flags stuck wi' evergreen
All gilt wi' crowns and names
Dick vowed the like wor never seen
And Bob he thought the same
And there wor V's, and there wor R's
[A hangin' on the lamps]
Bob sed they told o' bludy wars
But them's the tales o' scamps

4

Arches were stuck wi' evergreens
Up to the very top
At Christmas time there may be seen
The like in Grocer's shop
And lots of letters for the name
Of but a Prince and Queen,
Some yellow as the very flame
The like o't ne'er wor seen

5

A roozin bonfire blazed at night
Fire-works were blazing too
'Twould sarv'd our house for candle light
For half the winter through
And there wor fireworks on the hill
And crackers in the street
I see the bonfires blazing still
And faces I did meet

323

6

And there were morts o' things beside
I can't think on't to tell
If they be Queen's and aint no pride
I on'y wish them well
The women they did gaily shine
Our Nan has no sich clothes
Misses on Sundays ben't so fine
As Queen's and Albert's shows

7

Some sez they beint the Prince and Queen
And some pretends they be
I cam to see what's to be seen
And mort o' sights I see
And if I see the Queen agen
And ne'er o sight be seen
I've got a voice like other men
To say God save the Queen

A SCENE

1

The winding river glitters
Through the meadows emerald green
And in the sunshine twitters
How beautiful the scene

324

And April just a leafing
And the willows greening grey
While the white-thorn's sweetly weaving
Beneath the naked spray

2

Its tender leaves of green
O'er every hill and vale
Then comes the pleasant scene
Of maid with milking pail
The soft winds blowing over us
Woods waving too and fro
Soon spring's green leaves will cover us
Wherever we may go

[A seaboy on the giddy mast]

A seaboy on the giddy mast
Sees nought but ocean waves
& hears the wild inconstant blast
Where loud the tempest raves

328

My life is like the ocean wave
& like the inconstant sea
In every hope appears a grave
& leaves no hope for me

My life is like the oceans lot
Bright gleams the morning gave
But storms oerwhelmed the sunny spot
Deep in the ocean wave

My life hath been the ocean storm
A black & troubled sea
When shall I find my life a calm
A port & harbour free

329

SONG

[The daiseys golden eye]

The daiseys golden eye
On the fallow land doth lie
Though the spring is just begun
Pewets watch it all the day
& the sky larks nest of hay
Leans agen its group of leaves in the sun

Theres the pilewort all in gold
Neath that ridge of finest mould
Blooms to cheer the ploughmans eye
There the mouse his hole hath made
& beneath its golden shade
Hides secure when the hawk is prowling bye

Heres the speedwells sapphire blue
Was there anything more true
To the vernal season still
Here it decks the bank alone
Where the milkmaid throws a stone
At morn to cross the flooded rill

Here the cowslap chill with cold
On the rushy bed behold
Looking for [the] spring all day
Where the heavy bee will come
& find no sweets at home
Then quakes his weary wings & flyes away

330

& here are nameless flowers
Culled from cold & rawky hours
For Marys happy home
They grew in murky blea
Rush fields & naked lea
But suns will shine & pleasing spring will come

SONG

[Sweet summer breath your choicest gales]

Sweet summer breath your choicest gales
To charm my lovers ear
Ye zephers wake your choicest tales
Where e'er she shall appear
& gently wave the meadow grass
Where soft she sets her feet
For my love is a country lass
& bonny as shes sweet

The hedges only seem to mourn
The willow boughs to sigh
Though sunshine on the meads sojourn
To cheer me where I lye
The blackbird in the hedge row thorn
Sings loud his summer lay
He seems to sing both eve & morn
She wanders here to day

331

The skylark in the summer cloud
One cheering anthem sings
& Mary where she wanders out
Can watch his trembling wings
Let zephers throw their sighs away
When woman comes abroad
To cheer the landscape all the day
Such glooms are ill bestowed

I'll wander down the river way,
And wild flower poesys make;
For nature wispers all the day,—
She can't her promise break.
The meads already wear a smile;
The river runs more bright;
For down the path and o'er the stile,—
The maiden comes in sight.

The scene begins to look divine,
We'll by the river walk;
Her arm already seems in mine,
And fancy hears her talk:
A vision this of early love,
The meadow, river,—rill.—
Scenes where I walked with Mary Dove,
Are in my memory still.

332

AUTUMN

1

The autumn day it fades away,
The fields are wet and dreary;
The rude storm takes the flowers of may,
And nature seemeth weary.
The partridge coveys shunning fate,
Hide in the bleaching stubble;
And many a bird without its mate,
Mourns o'er its lonely trouble.

2

On awthorns shine the crimson awe,
Where spring brought may-day blossoms;
Decay is natures cheerless law,
Life's winter in our bosoms.
The fields are brown and naked all,
But hedges still are green:
But storms shall come at autumns fall,
And not a leaf be seen!

3

Yet happy love that warms the heart,
Through darkest storms severe;
Keeps many a tender flower to start,—
When spring shall reappear,
Affections hope shall roseys meet;
Like those of summer bloom:—
And joys, and flowers, smell as sweet,
In seasons yet to come.

333

THE CHURCHYARD

1

‘The graves of those we loved’,
How beautiful they lie;
From every care and strife removed;
Beneath heavens canopy.

2

Think of the hand that led you on,
In childhoods happy way;
A guide where 'ere your steps have gone,
That would not lead astray!

3

The father is a real friend,
The mother something more,
And when the churchyard holds them both,
The hope of life is o'er!

4

The maiden when she leaves the church,
Stands where the nettles wave;
Upon a mound against the porch,
—It is her mothers grave!

5

The brother looks among the tombs,
His sisters name to see;
Gone like a blossom just in bloom,
How beautiful was she!

334

6

The stone with sculpture spread about
From fondest love was given.
But dear the mounds of those without,
In memories of the living.

7

And o'er her brother's grave—(that was.)
The sister bending sighs,
While like the dew drops in the grass,
Tears glisten in her eyes!

8

A small low stone denotes the spot,—
The little mound is green;
Strangers go by and notice not,—
There sleeps the ‘village queen’.

9

A sweetheart's name reposes there,
Beneath that little stone;
To one, o' she was more than fair;
And dearer now she's gone!

10

These resting places of the dead,
How beautiful they lie;
The green grass turf above them spread,
Beneath a summer sky.

335

SONG—MISS HAND

In this summers health & dew
Among the oaks & flowers
‘When looks were fond & words were few’
Canst thou remember hours
Spent there in love & happiness
Beneath the clear blue sky
When natures truth had power to bless
& nought gave cause to sigh

The song thats breathed from lips we love
There nought so sweet can prove
The voice like angels songs above
There's nought so sweet but love
The walk at morn the seat at eve
The rest on hillocks green
There love leaves many an happy place
To think of what has been

To think of when we get away
& so I've thought of thee
How sweet appeared that summers day
When thou as fair as May
Went with me through that happy scene
An angel by my side
How beautifull the park—how green
The oaks spread far & wide

336

& we were known beyond the sea
& loved in other tongues
& there thou wert as dear to me
As beauty is in songs
The seat at noon the walk at eve
On molehills by the rill
So fond to stay so loath to leave
Are all in memory still

STANZAS

[There is a hope for all who live]

1

There is a hope for all who live
Beneath this cold and cloudy sky
And many a joy that hope can give
Is dround in many a tearful eye
There is a hope of joyful sound
'Tis not in earth, in air, or sky
Go search the fields and mountains round
There nothing can the loss supply

2

I trace the meadows every day
I climb the mountains once in three
But still my eyes are all astray
For hopeful love ne'er comes to me

337

No matter for the songs I've sung
No matter for my being free
My hopeless nerves are all unstrung
For love, nor pleasure comes to me

SUMMER

1

The water elder is in flower,
The woods are all in green;
The dark oak forms a shady bower,
And lovely is the scene.

And thou should'st flourish like a flower,
A blossom by the brooklets side;
Thy life should be a rosy bower,
With nought to wish beside.

3

Thy life should be a happy dream,
Without a care or strife.
And thou the sweetest picture seem,
That ever breathed this life.

4

She passed and turned a steady smile,
She looked on me with steadfast eye,
I loved in silence, all the while:
And silent blessed her, passing bye;

5

She shewed me where her thoughts had been,
She shewed me where her heart would be;
And though true love would keep unseen,
I blessed her silently.

SONG

[O come to the meadows my beautiful fair]

1

O come to the meadows my beautiful fair,
With eye-brows so arching, and beautiful hair!
No eye e'er would hurt thee, no tongue would upbraid,
Nor hurt the sweet face of my beautiful maid.

341

2

Let us walk the green lanes where I met thy sweet looks
And at eve' seek the meadows, and walk by the brooks
Thy eye-brows so arching need ne'er be afraid
Tho' I clasp to my arms my beautiful maid.

3

How sweet will the walk be in such a sweet place
While the setting sun leaves his last smile on thy face,
That eye-brow so arching, that bosom so fair
Thy sweet slender shape, and thy dark flowing hair.

4

The evening will come like a bird from the west
And bring to thy bosom, both pleasure and rest
And I'll roam with thee maiden, and ne'er be afraid
To kiss the pale cheek of my beautiful maid.

SONG

[In bed she like a lily lay]

1

In bed she like a lily lay
Her sleep it heaved in happy sighs
A dream upon her lips did play
And sunrise hid within her eyes
Like lily leaves her white eye-lids
With jetty fringes o'er them lies
And each improper gaze forbids
From all who would their sleep surprise

342

2

And when she 'woke to see the morn
No rose in June was e're so fair
Her bosom blushed right through the lawn
As if her bonny breasts were bare
The mole it was a beauty spot
And glowed like sunlight from her face
That waking look is ne'er forgot
The room was Venus dwelling place

3

The rose is but a simple flower
Compared to living blooms like these
They have no strength they have no power
They stir not heart's hid ecstacies
The lily is a lovely flower
The rose it is the gardens queen
So blossomed in her bridal hour
The loved and lovely Imogene

OUT OF DOOR PLEASURES

The day is all round me the woods and the fields
And sweet is the singing their birds music yields
The waterfall music, there's none such at home
It spreads like a sheet, and then falls into foam
The meadows are mown, what a beautiful hue
There is in green closes as I wander through
A green of all colors, yellow, brown and dark grey
While the footpaths all darkly goes winding away
Creeping on to a foot-brig that crosses a brook
Or a gate, or a stile, and how rustic they look

343

Some leaning so much that the maidens will go
Lower down with their buckets, and try to creep through
There is nothing more sweet in the fields and the sun
Than those dear little footpaths that o'er the fields run
They lead us by maidens all making of hay
While we seem to steal kisses as we bid them good day
They lead us to springs with a stone by the brink
All ready to kneel on, to stoop down and drink
They lead us by bushes, all bowering and sweet
Where the wild thyme has cushioned mole-hills for a seat
And the wild thyme smells sweet, as we sit by the stile
And the green-linnet keeps on her nest all the while
The road smokes with dust as the oxen and sheep
Go mile after mile 'till they scarcely can creep
A hugh cloud of dust all the coaches conceals
They are hid in the smoak that flies up from the wheels
The dust like a cloud whirleth up all the day
As coaches and coaches keep flying away
Here nothing in nature displeases the eye
Out of doors there's the fields and the beautiful sky
There's the weeds by the hedge and the flowers in the grass
And everything pleases, wherever we pass
This grove of tall elms with their dark sombre green
How sweet their old shadows beneath them are seen
In the heat of the day how delicious to pass
As cool as an ice house, or the dews on the grass
Where every where else, it is scorching, and sear
But here it is pleasant throughout the whole year
The closes are mown, and the haytime is done
And the stacks stand about bleaching brown in the sun
The naked shorn sheep, and the sleek looking cows
Are turned in the eddish in quiet to browse
Out of doors we see nothing but pleasure and good
'Tis the greenness of childhood in valley and wood
Good health out of doors is all that we see
Where nature and quiet are happy and free

344

Oh! there's nought so delightful as the woods and the fields
And the out-of-doors pleasures their sweet music yields.
O powers of mans destiny give me but these
With my wife and my children at evening to please.

SONG To his Wife

4

I'd hear the[e] tak' thy breath sa sweet
Thy breastie panting like a bird
Thy eyelids closed to shut out neet
Thy muvin lips that speak na' word
I'd see thee sleep in innocense
Then wake and huggle ain anither
An' wisper words o' common sense
As we would cuddle close together

5

Sweet lassie I will gang wi' thee
Where muircocks crow an' plovers fly
On some high hill agen the sea
W'ell mak' a biggin snug and dry
And on thy bosom, a' my ain
I'll sleep an' we will lie together
The earth's vain cares shall be unknown
W'ell live like twa true doves together

6

And when death comes to part us twa
As many lang sin' syne has parted
We've lived to gang the better way
And loved in truth that can't be thwarted
Shud I gang first I'll luik for thee
In faith earths faults are a forgiven
If my luv' thou could na be
The happiest place cud na' be heaven

348

AN INVITE TO ETERNITY

1

Wilt thou go with me sweet maid
Say maiden wilt thou go with me
Through the valley depths of shade
Of night and dark obscurity
Where the path hath lost its way
Where the sun forgets the day
Where there's nor life nor light to see
Sweet maiden wilt thou go with me

349

2

Where stones will turn to flooding streams
Where plains will rise like ocean waves
Where life will fade like visioned dreams
And mountains darken into caves
Say maiden wilt thou go with me
Through this sad non-identity
Where parents live and are forgot
And sisters live and know us not

3

Say maiden wilt thou go with me
In this strange death of life to be
To live in death and be the same
Without this life, or home, or name
At once to be, & not to be
That was, and is not—yet to see
Things pass like shadows—and the sky
Above, below, around us lie

4

The land of shadows wilt thou trace
And look—nor know each others face
The present mixed with reasons gone
And past, and present all as one
Say maiden can thy life be led
To join the living with the dead
Then trace thy footsteps on with me
We're wed to one eternity

350

SONNET

[The silver mist more lowly swims]

The silver mist more lowly swims
And each green bosomed valley dims
And o'er the neighbouring meadow lies
Like half seen visions by dim eyes
Green trees look grey, bright waters black
The lated crow has lost her track
And flies by guess her journey home

She flops along and cannot see
Her peaceful nest on odlin tree
The lark drops down and cannot meet
The taller black grown clumps of wheat
The mists that rise from heat of day
Fades field and meadow all away

SONG

[How can I sing the songs of love]

1

How can I sing the songs of love
How can I strike the chords to wake a strain
That every bosom moves
And nothing hears in vain
I've sung of blossoms blooming
In early spring
But these are cold to woman
What shall I sing

351

2

Love is the beating heart
That ever hidden secret of the soul
Of faith and life a living part
That animates the whole
'Tis in the bright eyes hidden
On beating bosoms seen
No where on earth forbidden
And woman is its queen

3

O where can man discover
The pleasure love conceals
But in his faithful lover
Whose ways the truth reveals
'Tis not in joys of earth
But kin to joys above
For woman was its birth
And woman's heart is love

SONG

[My love's like the lilies]

1

My love's like the lilies
My love's like the roses
She's rich daffodillies
And pinks and sweet posies
She's the wealth of carnations
The flower of all graces
She's the pride of all nations
In bosoms and faces

352

2

She's the sweetest thought present
The sweetest joy known
Both the King and the peasant
Love's language must own
She's the flower of all gardens
Linking falshood to stone
In natures awardings
Love[s] prize is her own

3

She's the pride of the valley
The joy of the plain
Where summer winds dally
And bees hum their strain
Her skin's the white lily's
Her cheeks the red roses
Her dress daffodillies
And her breath the sweet posies

SONNET River Banks

How pleasant are the windings of the river
In the delightful mornings of the may
Changing at every turn as 'twould for ever
Be something fresh to pleasure those who stray
By the green banks of waters day by day

353

From toil or pleasure—how the mind reposes
On the wild flowers blooming to the spray
On the rivers banks—shining primroses
Even more bright than morn's first ray
Daiseys—and wind flowers—and no end of posies
Keep looking in the water all the way
And woodbines blooming round the wild dog-roses
How beautiful they blossom and how gay
They look to travellers by its sides in may.

THE SUN

1

Grand source of life and light
Thou land of gold
In heaven's ether bright
A mistery to behold
Before creations birth
Thy light might be begun
Lighting another earth
Inimitable sun

2

Nay his heat these summer days
May other spheres create
And new stars distant rays
May yet his light await

354

The birth of new come flowers
May be this day begun
To ope' in distant hours
Neath the prolific sun

3

Is he the ‘Lord of light’
Is he the ‘great supreme’
In selfish eyes he might
Who mock the seraphim
Who scans the author right
Will darker errors shun
And feel that power above more bright
Can mar that glorious sun

4

Ere Adam he was made
Or Eve beheld the light
That sun dispelled night's shade
And shon in heaven as bright
As it is shining now
In the same course to run
On grass and woodland bough
Bright, burning, glorious sun

5

I see him shine to day
How bright his disk appears
Six thousand mark his stay
Perhaps a million years
And still keeps shining on
Bright as when first begun
When a thousand years are gone
'Twill be the same bright sun

355

MORNING

The morning comes—the drops of dew
Hang on the grass and bushes too
The sheep more eager bite the grass
Whose moisture gleams like drops of glass
The hiefer licks in grass and dew
That makes her drink and fodder too
The little bird his morn song gives
His breast wet with the dripping leaves
Then stops abruptly just to fly
And catch the wakened butterfly
That goes to sleep behind the flowers
Or backs of leaves from dews and showers
The yellowhammer haply blest
Sits by the dyke upon her nest
The long grass hides her from the day
The water keeps the boys away
The morning sun is round and red
As crimson curtains round a bed
The dew drops hang on barley horns
As beads the necklace thread adorns
The dew drops hang wheat ears upon
Like golden drops against the sun
Hedge-sparrows in the bush cry ‘tweet’
O'er nests larks winnow in the wheat
'Till the sun turns gold and gets more high
And paths are clean, and grass gets dry
And longest shadows pass away
And brightness is the blaze of day.

356

FLOWERS

1

The flowers are silent in their bloom
Without a sorrow or a tomb
Enjoying homes by all so dear
The summer months of every year

2

Winds are its suitors, and they play
Music all the summer day
Round its beauty and its breath
That never hears the voice of death

3

They are the pearls of earth and air
And meet with friendship every where
The scripture truths of every soil
Field flowers that neither spin nor toil

4

The flower is silent in its bloom
Without a sorrow or a tomb
Enjoying sunshine, winds and showers
Silence is the life of flowers

357

DEW

1

The tears of dew night leaves
Upon the grass at morn
Shews nature inly gri[e]ves
For deeds that day has done
For beetles trod upon
Moths and butterflies destroyed
Nests with the young ones gone
Left desolate and void

2

For some the boys will get
And some the hawk destroys
Nature will mourn them yet
For spoiling summers joys
Hawks steal young birds by day
And the owlet hawks by night
So nature mourns her griefs away
In dewy pearls so bright

3

Her tears of dew night leaves
On flower and grassy blade
At the havoc day has made
Dews fall at evening's gray
How heavy the gale sighed
When the birds were stole away
Loud chirping ere they died

358

SONG

[Smile kindly love when we shall meet]

1

Smile kindly love when we shall meet
Think kind too when we part
For these love are the bitter sweet
That warm or chill the heart
A doubtful word, an awkward look
Interpreted unkind
Is printed in loves motley book
Which years will keep in mind

2

Let our first meeting love be smiles
That spring itself puts on
For nothing more the heart beguiles
For absent shadows gone
Thy first words be they sweet & few
And nothing speak in vain
And loves first kiss once felt so true
Will be the same again

CONTENT

1

I'm silverless, and pennyless
I've no small coin about me
And yet I'm not in wants distress
The rich may live without me

359

Though money makes the married glad
And finds the single nappy
Yet wanting wealth—I'm never sad
While health can make me happy

2

For health's the flower of mountains pride
The lily of the valley
The red rose by the cottage side
While sickness keeps the alley
In poverty there is no shame
Industry's not the slave on't
And self-content's a happy name
So I whistle o'er the leave on't

3

I'm silverless, and pennyless
And poor enough God knows
Yet in no pinfold of distress
While I get food and clothes
The heart that keeps its own command
Of little makes the more
Content—and all may understand
I've no wishes from my door

SONG

[Accept dear maid now summer glows]

1

Accept dear maid now summer glows
Its pure unsullied gem
Thy emblem this—a full blown rose
Just broken from its stem

360

2

Accept it as a favoured flower
For thy soft breast to wear
'Twill blossom there one happy hour
A favourite with the fair

3

While on thy cheek the blossom glows
As from a mirror clear
And makes thyself a living rose
In blossom all the year

4

It is a sweet and favourite flower
To grace the maidens brow
And yet to me in evening's hour
A sweeter rose art thou

5

The rose like hues on insects wing
May wither in an hour
'Tis but at best a fading thing
But thou a living flower

SONG

[The summer is waining]

1

The summer is waining
The autumn is staining
The hedges and woods with the hues of the west
So come in the dell
To bid it farewell
For sweets at their parting are often the best

361

2

Think where we met last love
And live for the past love
For sweet were those walks I once wandered with thee
On the banks of the Nenn
Where I'd wander again
And rest once again 'neath the wide spreading tree

3

The summer gets duller
The trees are in colour
Yet sweeter than summer was walking with thee
Thy face of rose charmed me
And ne'er could I harm thee
From the day we first sheltered beneath the oak tree

WILD FLOWERS

1

Beautiful mortals of the glowing earth
And children of the season crowd together
In showers and sunny weather
Ye beautiful spring hours
Sunshine and all together
I love wild flowers

362

2

The rain drops lodge on the swallows wing
Then fall on the meadow flowers
Cowslips and enemonies all come with spring
Beaded with first showers
The skylarks in the cowslips sing
I love wild flowers

3

Blue-bells and cuckoo's in the wood
And pasture cuckoo's too
Red yellow white and blue
Growing where herd cows meet the showers
And lick the morning dew
I love wild flowers

4

The lakes and rivers—summer hours
All have their bloom as well
But few of these are childrens flowers
They grow where dangers dwell
In sun and shade and showers
I love wild flowers

5

They are such lovely things
And make the very seasons where they come
The nightingale is smothered where she sings
Above their scented bloom
O what delight the cuckoo music brings
I love wild flowers

363

THE DYING CHILD

1

He could not die when trees were green
For he loved the time too well
His little hands when flowers were seen
Was held for the blue-bell
As he was carried o'er the green

2

His eye glanced at the white-nosed bee
He knew those children of the spring
When he was well and on the lea
He held one in his hand to sing
Which filled his little heart with glee

3

Infants, the children of the spring
How can an infant die
When butterflies are on the wing
Green grass, and such a sky
How can an infant die at spring

4

He held his hand for daiseys white
And then for violets blue
And took them all to bed at night
What in the green fields grew
As childhoods sweet delight

364

5

And then he shut his little eyes
And flowers would notice not
Birds nests and eggs, made no surprise
Nor any blossoms got
All met with pla[i]ntive sighs

6

When winter came and blasts did sigh
And bare was plain and tree
As he for ease in bed did lie
His soul seemed with the free
He died so quietly

THE CHURCHYARD

Look on this dust the living and the dead
Are in its atoms—present life and past
Are all its future—'tis the bed
Of nations, and of empires that but last
Some years—and then seem nothing when they're past
Crowns, scepters, stars and garters—all the lust
Of greatness in these fields and hillocks lie
'Tis what life was at first—at last all must
Enrich those weeds o'er animated dust.

365

SONG

[The wing of the blackbird is the hue of her hair]

1

The wing of the blackbird is the hue of her hair
The hue of the rose is the face of my fair
And yet she's a romekin, slomekin thing
And as wild as a filly let loose in the spring
She'll jump o'er the anthills as quick as a bee
And shout to the birds on their nests in the tree
She's a good-for-nothing romikin slomekin thing
Yet as sweet as a queen by the side of a King

2

She's healthy and wealthy, and wild as a bird
And startles with fear if a bramble be stirred
When far from her home she will run like the roe
And thinks rudeness watching where e'er she may go
But she has good excuses for being so wild
She's a woman in size, while she's only a child
She pictures in fancy, what innocence means
And sports like a baby not yet in her teens

3

O girlhood has joys what her mother would fain
Recall to herself if they would come back again
And so would we all, but one's youth is the time
For health, love and innocence just's in their prime
A child so loves nature she does not mean sin
Only see what a rolicking humour she's in
She's a young sweet and good-for-naught, rolicking thing
Yet as fair as a queen by the side of a King

366

BALLAD

[I lie me down, and then I think]

1

I lie me down, and then I think
I try to sleep an hour away
And fancy I'm on some broad brink
In foreign lands so far away
I think of one for loves dear sake
With her neat dress and bonnet on
The very moral in her make
Is bonny Mary Hamilton.

2

I sit upon the road-side hill
Church folks are going by to prayer
Of goodly ways there comes no Ill
And all have sabath faces there
I looked at one, my face grew pale
My self possession all was gone
I turned around to view the vale
And sighed for Mary Hamilton.

3

I feared offence, and dare not speak
I praised the flowers—and meant hersel
The sweet-briar bloom excuse did make
The heath-bloom tinkled like a bell
The briar blushed warm and so did she
I wondered what she thought upon
But from that hour I longed to see
The blooming Mary Hamilton.

367

4

Her hands were white, her feet were small
Her neck the creamy cloud at e'en
I thought when she was gone away
What could those turning blushes mean
Her features were the pastoral bloom
I told her 'twas the very same
Like evenings blue her two eyes shone
And all her face was in a flame
Thus I loved Mary Hamilton.

5

We staid, the sun sank in the sea,
And saw the pale moon climb the sky;
And dear as one's own life to me
Was Mary's parting smile and sigh;
I left her with a warm embrace,
And talked of time 'till time was gone,
And told her at that very place
I'd next meet Mary Hamilton.

6

The rising moon looked on the stream,
New gilding all the sleepy flowers;
The dew fell on the heather bloom,
And made the most delightful hours;
The fern owl churred his evening call,
The chaffer made his evening song—
And dew had sprinkled drops o'er all
When I left Mary Hamilton.

368

THE ORPHAN CHILD

1

The sun, the shower, the clouds, the air,
Seem sweet unto the Orphan Child
As to the rich mans heir.
Poor lonely thing the blossoms wild,
Its little dirty fingers pull
With self delight, 'though none is nigh
To praise and cherish what it shews
To strangers passing by

2

Yet its young heart and its dull eye
That meets no kindred's kindly smile
Can look upon the sunny sky
And please itself the while
And chase the butterflies, and bees,—
And pull the blossoms wild,
For rich man's boys are pleased with these
So is the Orphan Child.

3

The daiseys in springs sunny hour
It pulls upon the trodden green
For gardens, or a garden flower
Its eyes have never seen
It calls the daiseys all its own
Before the workhouse door
And goes and plants them where they've grown
In places on the moor—

369

4

It is a thing of silent joys
A thing of silent fears
It weeps to hear that moaning noise
When its sisters grief it hears
It shares the blessings of the sky
Some pleasures of the spring
When merry bee and butterfly
Will please that lonely thing.

THE INVITATION

1

Let us go in the fields love and see the green tree
Let's go in the meadows and hear the wild bee
There's plenty of pleasure for you love and me
In the mirth and the music of nature
We can stand in the path love and hear the birds sing
And see the woodpigeon snap loud on the wing
While you stand beside me a beautiful thing
Health and beauty in every feature.

2

We can stand by the brig-foot and see the bright things
On the sun shining water, that merrily springs
Like sparkles of fire in their mazes and rings
While the insects are glancing and twitters
You see naught in shape but hear a deep song
That lasts through the sunshine the whole summer long
That pierces the ear as the heat gathers strong
And the lake like a burning fire glitters.

370

3

We can stand in the field love and gaze o'er the corn
See the lark from her wing shake the dews of the morn
Through the dew beaded woodbine the gale is just born
And there we can wander my dearie
We can walk by the wood where the rabbits pop in
Where the bushes are few, and the hedge gapped and thin
There's a wild-rosy bower and a place to rest in
So we can walk in and rest when we're weary.

4

The skylark my love from the barley is singing
The hare from her seat of wet clover is springing
The crow to its nest on the tall elm swinging
Bears a mouthful of worms for its young
We'll down the green meadow, and up the lone glen
And down the woodside far away from all men
And there we'll talk over our love tales again
Where last year the nightingale sung.

STANZAS

[I had a dream,—I thought I spoke]

1

I had a dream,—I thought I spoke,
And still it was a dream;—
Another voice the silence broke,
That did so truly seem.
I thought of one in thoughts delight,
Nor wished the thought away;
Yet still came on the sleepless night,
And still the weary day
But sweet that voice hung on my ear,
Like sounds unearthly,—everywhere

371

2

It was a voice!—it seemed a dream,—
A waking dream of sleep;
It haunted me, and still I seem
That waking voice to keep,
For there was one I valued more
Than all I'd ever seen;
I wished to keep as heretofore,
And be as I had been.
'Twas heard around—beneath—above,—
I wakened, and the voice was Love!

SONG

[There's pleasure in all the sun shines on]

1

There's pleasure in all the sun shines on,
The earth, and the ocean that foams;
The cottage it looks so divine on,
And the homestead, that dearest of homes.

2

Those sheds that stand under the mountain,
Those one-story huts by the wood;
With two windows that look to the fountain,
Where each shed seems a boat in the flood.

3

The flower borders under the window,
Looking just as if floating away;
And the old chimney, black as a cinder,
Where the swallow makes dwellings of clay.

372

4

There's pleasure in all the sun shines on,
The earth and the ocean that foams;
The cottage, it looks so divine on,
And the homestead, that dearest of homes.

SONNET The Nightingale

This is the month, the Nightingale, clod-brown,
Is heard among the woodland shady boughs;
This is the time when, in the vale, grass-grown
The maiden hears at eve, her lovers vows.
What time the blue mist, round her patient cows,
Dim rises from the grass, and half conceals
Their dappled hides,—I hear the Nightingale,
That from the little blackthorn spinny steals,
To the old hazel hedge that skirts the vale,
And still unseen, sings sweet:—the ploughman feels
The thrilling music, as he goes along,
And imitates and listens,—while the fields
Lose all their paths in dusk, to lead him wrong
Still sings the Nightingale her sweet melodious song.

June 12./44.

373

THE VIOLET

1

I will not throw away the flower,
The little violet blue;
I pluck'd it in a lonely hour,
When she I loved was true.

2

Beside a hedge upon a hill,
All by itself it grew,
A type of her who loves me still,
In scent and colour true.

3

I'll keep the blossom many hours,
Until it withered be;
A type of sweet and withered flowers,
But most of love, and thee.

A REGRET

I've none to love and none to fear
And none to meet at gloaming
For I'm a woe worn prisoner here
No more with freedom roaming
Shut up from friends and all beside
With none to sit beside me
How gloomy now the moments glide
Where sore oppressions hide me

374

LOVE

1

Love is life's spring,—the summer of the soul,—
The Eden of earth's happiness,—the spring
Of all on earth that's lovely!—no control
Can hinder its conception:—'tis the wing
That bears the turtle to its nest in spring;—
It is the mainspring that conducts the whole,—
The eternal anthem which all nature sings,
And woman is of man the life and soul,
As long as earth exists or planets roll!—

2

Love is an April sky of various shades,—
To day all sunshine, and all showers tomorrow;
Buds early blighted,—blossoms born to fade,
And woman stamp'd with the pale hues of sorrow.
Care keeps her cash book where none like to borrow;
Tears are as lonely as the lonely dove;
Procrastinated falshood is hell's horror,—
Hope is its fire that kindles from above,—
Hate burns hell-deep in chronicles of love!—

3

Yet such is love, and of the purest water,—
The secret essence of the living clay,
That feeds upon itself, and wrongs no daughter
Of Eve; but glides on in its own pure way,
Living as in its own light:—the diamond's ray
Has no reflection upon meaner things;
Impurity takes all its hues away,
While purity its grand impression brings.—
Love is the jewel in the crown of Kings.

375

STANZAS

[Would'st thou but know where Nature clings]

1

Would'st thou but know where Nature clings,
That cannot pass away!
Stand not to look on human things,
For they shall all decay:—
False hearts shall change and rot to dust,
While truth exerts her powers;
Love lives with Nature, not with lust;
Go, find her in the flowers!

2

Dost dream o'er faces once so fair,
Unwilling to forget?
Seek Nature in the fields, and there
The first love face is met.
The native gales are lovers' voices,
As nature's self can prove;
The wild field flowers are lovers choices,
And Nature's self is Love.

TO M* C**

1

The Spring is coming round the skirted wild-wood
With many signs of flowers you loved in childhood;
When buttercups and daiseys, past all counting,
Covered the green, a gold and silver fountain.

376

2

The wood anemone we used to gather,
The violets looking for the spring's warm weather,
The pilewort on the banks, the flocks of daisies,
And all the small spring flowers in sunny places.

3

And now we'll gather past years in our fancies,
And take from childhood's book, Spring's sweet romances;
We'll trace again cow-commons and the wildwood,
Where we were wont to gather flowers in our childhood.

4

We'll go where violets grow among the bushes,
And when thy hand's full tie them up with rushes;
We'll trace cow pastures overrun with daisies,
And gather water-blobs in marshy places.

5

And in the meadow where the willow boughs dip,
We'll go and gather up the sunny cowslip;
And when we've gleaned cow commons field and wild wood,
We'll think ourselves as happy as in childhood.

SONG

[Mary, I love to sing]

1

Mary, I love to sing
About the flowers of Spring,
For they resemble thee.

377

In the earliest of the year
Thy beauties will appear,
And youthful modesty.

2

Here's the Daisy's silver rim,
With gold eye never dim,
Spring's earliest flowers so fair;
Here's the pilewort's golden rays,
Set the cow-green in a blaze,
Like the sunshine in thy hair.

3

Here's forget-me-not so blue,
Is there any flower so true?
Can it speak thy happy lot?
When we courted in disguise,
This flower I used to prize,
For it said “Forget-me-not!”

4

Speedwell! and when we meet
In the meadow paths so sweet,
When the flowers I gave to thee,
All grew beneath the sun
May thy gentle heart be won
And I be blesst with thee!—

May 13/44

378

SPRING

1

How beautiful is Spring! the sun gleams gold,
Reflecting like a mirror, burnished ever;
The skylark from the eddings near the fold,
Mounts up and sings!—bright gleams the flowing river
Full to the brim!—Winter is gone! and never
Attempts his scattered force to bring
Against such burnished scenes;—the true believer
Sees flowers in bloom and hears the woodlands ring,
With joys awake:—how beautiful is Spring!—

2

Poesy of seasons! scripture of the year!
Whose buds put forth in promise to the sun,
And at their resurrection shall appear
Hued in all colours, as from rainbows won,—
Gold, blue, green, red, and white! the meadows run,
A garden world of bloom, and richly fling
Incense to every wind, and shower, and sun;
Music unceasing, woods and valleys bring
From birds about their nests! how beautiful is Spring!

3

The daisy's golden eye and silver rim
Crowd every pasture like a fall of snow
And pilewort, where earth's diadems grow dim,
Stud emerald grass with gold where'er they grow
Spring flowers flood earth in showers to overflow;—
Meadow and close and pingle, where suns cling,
And shine on earliest flowers,—there they shew
Their rainbow maps of loveliness; and bring
Their painted crowds,—so beautiful is Spring!

379

4

Anemonies and lilies of the valley
Cover whole acres of the forest glade;
And blue-bells, that in woods and spinneys dally,
Beneath the oak tree and the hazel's shade.
The bushiest place is like a carpet made;
No copse so thick, but there their blooms they bring,—
No spot so cold but meets their purple shade;
In every place where feathered warblers sing,
Wild flowers in armies come!—so beautiful is Spring.

5

The garish Summer comes with many tribes
Of gay and gaudy flowers, in bright array;
But the hot sun the cloudy morning bribes,
And dries all moisture with his scorching ray;—
Corn-poppies oft a scarlet host display,—
The oak woods green, like rocky masses hing
On wooded hills,—the willows waving grey,
Hang mournful in the stream;—birds cease to sing:—
The sweetest poesy of the year is Spring!—

SONG

[Maiden dearest, leave a smile!]

1

Maiden dearest, leave a smile!
It will bless in rest and toil;
Leave a smile before we part,
Bring back welcome to my heart;
Leave a smile to be my rest,
And let me know I'm blest.

380

2

My life and soul I love the[e] well,—
Words may speak, but cannot tell,—
Language has not power to be
What thy smiles would speak to me
Leave a smile to be my rest,
And let me know I'm blest.

3

Maiden dearest! many a year,
I've loved thee silent and in fear,
Seen thee in many a grove and vale,
And heard thy voice upon the gale.
Maiden with a smile approve,
And bless my love!

A LAMENT FOR JERUSALEM

1

Mockery sits on Salem's throne,
And ruin lives upon her walls;
Her Holy City lies alone,
A ruined glory none recalls.
Oh! where's the glory and the gem
Of Sion's hill,—Jerusalem?—

381

2

Siloa is the place of tombs,
The most entire of all around,
There the King-poet's memory blooms,—
Patriarchs and prophets rotting round!—
But Sion's hill hath lost its gem,—
Oh! where art thou! Jerusalem!—

3

Judah's fair maid's no coronet!
The queen of Judah has no throne,
Dead ruins every where are met,—
The Holy City lies alone!
Queens sleep without their diadem
Dews are the city's weeping gem!

4

The grass grows on the mountain heath,
The holy ruins lie below;
The Jews are scattered, like the breath
Of tempests centuries ago,
Oh! where's the glory and the gem
Of Sion's hill, Jerusalem?

5

Mockery sits on Salem's throne,
And ruin lives upon her walls,
Her holy city lies alone,
A ruined glory none recalls!
Gone is the glory and the gem
Of Sion's hill, Jerusalem!—

382

LINES Written on a very boisterous day in May, 1844

'Tis May, and yet the skies are overcast
With clouds resembling a rough storm at sea;—
'Tis May,—and yet the hurricane goes past,
In dust, like foaming billows o'er the lea,
High over head close by me,—and 'tis He
Who wakes the sea, and drives the ships away
From anchor, into wrecks! Here I am free
From danger,—and the fields and woods the bay
To rest my weary limbs amid the storms of May.

BALLAD

[We'll walk among the tedded hay]

1

We'll walk among the tedded hay,
That smel[l]s as sweet as flowers;
While the meadow water winds its way
Beneath the hawthorn bowers.

2

And when the bright green haycocks throw
Their shadows from the sun,
When thou art weary there we'll go,
And rest, the heat to shun.

383

3

We'll to the hawthorn shades retire,
Where blooms the wild dog rose;
And smell the sweetly scented briar,
Where the shining river flows.

4

We'll talk o'er joys we once could prove,
And blithely spend the day,
For those pleasant dreams of early youth
Can never pass away.

June 18/44.

THE HOUR OF PRAYER

1

Ave Maria! woman mild,—
Mother ever young and fair,
Hushing slumbers to her child,—
It is the hour of Prayer!

2

When children bend the artless knee,
And mothers kneel beside 'em there,
Maiden mild my guardian be,
In eve's still hour of Prayer!

3

A light in darkness, be thou still,
Let love's affections be thy care;
Thou beacon light of good and ill,
Attend the hour of Prayer!

384

4

The darkness comes, the dews descend;—
Thou woman ever mild and fair!
Be to the friendless still a friend,
In the silent hour of Prayer!

5

'Tis come!—the o'erpowering heat of day
Seeks night, its peace to share;
Sweet maiden teach us how to pray
In silent hours of Prayer!

MORNING

1

The corn is in the ear,
And the prime is on the year
And blossoms every where,
Sweet scent the early morning:
The summer is in flower,
And the soft refreshing shower
Scents the breezes every hour,
But most at early morning.

2

The brook runs down the dale,
And the cuckoo tells her tale,
And the happy nightingale
Sings the song of early morning;
On the bank the hawthorn green,
Hides the linnet's nest unseen,
While sweet the blossom'd bean
Perfumes the early morning.

385

3

The maiden seeks her cow,
And the ploughman holds his plough,
And from the woods dark brow
Sweet comes the sounds of morning;
On the powdered woodland oaks,
The glossy raven croaks,
And the lonely wo[o]dman's strokes,
Sound loud at early morning.

4

The corn is in the ear,
And 'tis summer every where,
The prime of all the year,
That scents the early morning;
The water clear and blue,
With its lilies shining through,
And the long grass gem'd with dew
Proclaim the summer morning.

A GLOOMY DAY IN SUMMER

A dull gloom hangs above the peaceful fields,
And in the moody mist the houses sleep,
Still as if tenantless!—the vapour shields
The heavens like a secret, that would keep
The doom sealed over our dull hours of sleep.
The evening comes as something not forgiven;
The clouds hang lowly but forbear to weep;—
Noontide and evening weigh the balance even,
And gloom shuts Hopes eyes from the sight of Heaven!

386

SPRING

1

And is Spring come again to cheer,
The withered winter of the year?—
The grass to feed the hungry kine,—
The flowers to please those eyes of thine?

2

The daisey tempts the playful lamb,
To crop its silver bloom;
The golden pilewort tempts the child,
For many a flower to come.

3

The tree's first foliage tells the child
The sweet approach of Spring:
The white-thorn leaves of tender green,
Where linnets build and sing.

4

The rose,—there is a rose of May,
Though not the sweetest rose;
But Spring will have the sweetest day,
And the fairest flower that blows.

5

What is it?—search the fields, and find,—
No garden owns the flower;—
It is the blossom of the mind!
The joy of every hour.

387

6

The birds are preachers!—bush and tree
Are pulpits all around,—
Where shining flowers and droning bee,
As listeners gather round.

7

The vine trees open into leaf,
How beautiful they are!
How lovely doth each tendril curl,
Like some Greek maiden's hair.

8

VERSES TO M.A.B****

1

By the wood-hedge primroses are peeping
By the thorn root white violets are sleeping
'Neath the tears of the morning all smiling and weeping
On March's latest mornings

2

The primrose peeps aneath the thorn
By woodland hedges newly born
Its sulphur bosom in the morn
Scented with dews so early

3

The violets too bloomed by the hedge
Peeping in clumps by withered sedge
Of spring the sweet and early pledge
Sweet scenting early morning

4

By hazle stumps and mosses green
Where the little brook is seen
And thou and I at spring have been
Walking at early morning

5

The lark is cheeping to the sky
A march days stormy melody
Till clouds conseal it from the eye
In the wild and early morning

393

6

The crow is on the furrowed field
The blackbirds in the spinney shield
And in the new laid hedges build
Singing at early morning

7

The hanging mists the blebs of dew
That turns the pasture grass to blue
As if the heaven was looking through
To meet the early morning

8

In such a place—and can love sever
We've met and could have talked for ever
The meadows and that winding river
Beheld our early mornings

9

And thou a lovely maiden fair
As sweet as any flower there
Went forth to take the cooler air
All in the early morning

10

Young buds now wait thy leisure hours
To pluck the sweetest new born flowers
When spring revives the woodland bowers
As on this early morning

394

STANZAS

[The spring is come forth, but no spring is for me]

1

The spring is come forth, but no spring is for me,
Like the spring of my boyhood, on woodland and lea,
When flowers brought me heaven, and knew me again
In the joy of their blooming o'er mountain and plain
My thoughts are confined, and imprisoned—O when
Will freedom find me my own vallies again?

2

The wind breath[e]s so sweet, and the day is so calm;
In the woods and the thicket the flowers look so warm,
And the grass is so green, so delicious and sweet,
O when shall my manhood my youth's vallies meet,
The scenes where my children are laughing at Play,
The scenes where my memory is fading away.

3

The primrose looks happy in every field
In strange woods the violets their odours will yield
And flowers in the sunshine all brightly arrayed,
Will bloom just as fresh and as sweet in the shade:
But the wild flowers that bring me most joy & content
Are the blossoms that blow where my childhood was spent.

4

Then I played like a flower in the shade and the sun
And slept as in Eden when daylight was done
There I lived with my parents, and felt my heart free,
And love—that was yet joy or sorrow to be,
Joy and sorrow it has been, like sunshine and showers
And their sun is still bright o'er my happiest hours.

395

5

The trees they are naked, the bushes are bare
And the fields they are brown, as if winter lay there;
But the violets are there by the dykes and the dell,
Where I played ‘hen and chickens’—and heard the church bell
Which called me to prayer-book and sermons in vain
O when shall I see my own vallies again?—

6

The churches look bright as sun at noon day,
There meadows look green e're the winter's away,
There the pooty still lies for the school boy to find
And a thought often brings these sweet places to mind
Where the trees waved like thunder no music so well
Then nought sounded harsh but the school-calling bell.

7

There are spots where I played, there are spots where I loved,
There are scenes where the tales of my choice were approved
As green as at first—and their memory will be
The dearest of lifes recollections to me!—
The objects seen there in the care of my heart
Are as fair as at first—and will never depart.

8

Though no names are mentioned to sanction my themes
Their heart's beat with mine and make real my dreams:
Their memories with mine their diurnal course run,
True as night to the stars, and as day to the sun.
And as they are now so their memories will be
'Long as sense, truth, and reason, remaineth with me.

396

‘I AM’

1

I am—yet what I am, none cares or knows;
My friends forsake me like a memory lost:—
I am the self-consumer of my woes;—
They rise and vanish in oblivion's host,
Like shadows in love's frenzied stifled throes:—
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tost

2

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,—
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,

397

But the vast shipwreck of my lifes esteems;
Even the dearest, that I love the best
Are strange—nay, rather stranger than the rest.

3

I long for scenes, where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God;
And sleep as I in childhood, sweetly slept,
Untroubling, and untroubled where I lie,
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.

SONNET ‘I am’

I feel I am;—I only know I am,
And plod upon the earth, as dull and void:
Earth's prison chilled my body with its dram
Of dullness, and my soaring thoughts destroyed,
I fled to solitudes from passions dream,
But strife persued—I only know, I am,

398

I was a being created in the race
Of men disdaining bounds of place and time:—
A spirit that could travel o'er the space
Of earth and heaven,—like a thought sublime,
Tracing creation, like my maker, free,—
A soul unshackled—like eternity,
Spurning earth's vain and soul debasing thrall
But now I only know I am,—that's all.

SONG

[True love lives in absence]

1

True love lives in absence,
Like angels we meet her
Dear as dreams of our childhood
Aye, dearer and sweeter.

2

The words we remember
By absence unbroken
Are sweeter and dearer
Than when they were spoken.

3

There's a charm in the eye
There's a smile on the face
Time, distance, or trouble
Can never deface.

399

4

The pleasures of childhood
Were angels above
And the hopes of my manhood
All centred in love.

5

The scenes where we met
Aye the joys of our childhood
There's nothing so sweet
As those fields of the wild-wood.

6

Where we met in the morning
The noon and the gloaming
And stayed till the moon
High in heaven was roaming.

7

Friends meet and are happy,
So are hopes fixed above;
But there's nothing so dear
As first meetings of love.

400

SLEEP OF SPRING

O for that sweet untroubled rest
That Poets oft have sung
The babe upon its Mothers breast
The bird upon its young
The heart asleep without a pain
When shall I know that sleep again

When shall I be as I have been
Upon my Mothers breast
Sweet nature's garb of verdant green
To woo my former rest
Lone in the meadow field & plain
& in my native wilds again

The sheep within the fallow field
The bird upon the green
The Larks that in the thistle's shield
& pipe from morn to e'en
O for the pasture fields & fen
When shall I see such rest agen

I love the weeds along the fen
More sweet then garden flowers
Freedom haunts the humble glen
That blest my happiest hours
Here prisons injure health & me
I love sweet freedom & the free

401

The crows upon the swelling hills
The cows upon the lea
Sheep feeding by the pasture rills
Are ever dear to me
Because sweet freedom is their mate
While I am lone & desolate

I loved the winds when I was young
When life was dear to me
I loved the song which nature sung
Endearing Liberty
I loved the wood the dale the stream
For then my boyhood used to dream

Then toil itself was even play
'Twas pleasure e'en to weep
Twas joy to think of dreams by day
The beautifull of sleep
When shall I see the wood & plain
& dream those happy dreams again

[The bee loves a blossom and I love a woman]

1

The bee loves a blossom and I love a woman
The bird loves the valley, and I love the glen
Where flowers of all sorts, with her beauty is blooming
Oh! when shall I see womans beauty again
When the evening is near, o when shall I hear
The voice of my true love adown in the glen

2

Will Mary teach me how to love
Or nature how to woo
The brook[s] below the clouds above
Each others track pursue

405

Do breezes speak fond womans name
Are portrates seen in flowers
Of those we love yet dare not claim
In springs delightful hours.

3

Yes in this brook I sit beside
Her voice like music dwells
The flower her presence shews with pride
And loves true story tells
The very birds within the hedge
Love's happy thoughts proclaim
All heard or seen in springs first pledge
Seem speaking Mary's name.

March/44.

VALENTINE

[The morning is up betimes my dear]

1

The morning is up betimes my dear
Each postman is loaded by Cupid
The letters are nothing but lovers and rhymes
Some loving or joking or stupid
'Tis an old fashioned thing to go church to be wed
And then nothing can alter the fassion
But to day like the birds many lovers are led
More warmly revealing their passion.

2

Thy love at the first gave such witching delight
No maiden on earth could be neater
And absence has kept thee so long from my sight
That thy beauty shines sweeter and sweeter

406

The flowers of summer are showy and fine
But the blossoms of spring are the dearest
And just so it is with my fair Valentine
The best are the sweet and the sincerest.

3

There's the Cyclamin flower of a delicate hue
There's the snowdrop so drooping of delicate white
There's the violet and crocus all over dark blue
That makes in a nosegay a valentine quite
I'll wed thee and love thee, and this is the day
We must call those we love Valentine
And I hope when we see the sweet blossoms of May
Thou'lt be a sweet blossom of mine.

SONG

[Love lives beyond]

Love lives beyond
The tomb—the earth—which fades like dew
I love the fond
The faithfull & the true

Love lives in sleep
The happiness of healthy dreams
Eve's dews may weep
But love delightfull seems

407

Tis seen in flowers
& in the evens pearly dew
On earths green hours
& in the heavens eternal blue

Tis heard in spring
When light & sunbeams warm & kind
On angels wing
Bring love & music to the mind

& where is voice
So young & beautifully sweet
As natures choice
When spring & lovers meet

Love lives beyond
The tomb the earth the flowers & dew
I love the fond
The faithfull young & true

408

SONG

[When in summer thou walkest]

When in summer thou walkest
In the meads by the river
& to thyself talkest
Dost thou think of me ever
A lost & a lorn one
That adores thee & loves thee
& when happy morn's gone
& natures calm moves thee
Leaving thee to thy sleep like an angel at rest
Does the man who adored thee still live in thy breast

Does nature e'er give thee
Loves past happy visions
& wrap thee & leave thee
In fancys elesian[s]
Thy beauty I clung too
As leaves to the tree
When thou fair & young too
Looked lightly on me
Till love came upon thee like suns to the west
& shed its perfuming & bloom on my breast

409

Flower of summers bright beaming
Thou star of the even
Thy grey eyes are beaming
Like light of the heaven
When shall I talk to thee
In eves dusky glooming
When shall I walk with thee
In summer flowers blooming before
& love thee as much as I loved thee
& be teazed with the sighs of loves abscence no more

THE VOICES OF SPRING

1

There's the voices of Spring
Can we know them again
The lark's on the wing
And the bee's on the plain
The same sort of voices around and below
As we heard in the meadows ago.

410

2

There's a chirp in the hedge
Where the primroses grow
There's a song in the sedge
Where the grasshoppers go
The hedge sparrow there has her dwelling begun
And the spider is spinning his home in the sun.

3

There's a hum in the air
Theres a song in the rain
All these features so rare
Shall we know them again
The pilewort and daisy are on the green bank;—
Hid by the dead grass tuft's all withered and rank.

4

These are those lost voices
That love cherished so
Those sweetest of choices
Ten summer's ago
On the ear of my fancy they come in the spring
In the songs of the birds, and the brooks when they sing.

5

Loves favours I see them
In springs early flowers
These were my day dreams then
In summers green hours
And in fancy those faces they seem now to glow
With the same lovely features, as ten summers ago.

411

SONNET

[Bushes and trees the spirits of nature haunt ye and are glad]

Bushes and trees the spirits of nature haunt ye and are glad
To be in your still freshness and green shades
A dewy happiness that is never sad
Wispers among the leaves of your sweet glades
Like the sweet happy loves of tittering maids
Happy retreats and oceans of green leaves
Where sweet retirement bosoms in your shades
A still sweet calm of happiness and rest
How sweet the boughs through one another weaves
While the hedgesparrow cleans his brown hued breast
And thrushes hid in such a crowd of leaves
Which makes us start as from a fancied snake
So much its breast the startled lie deceives
And sweeter still when winds and branches shake

SONG

[My home is thine and where thou art]

1

My home is thine and where thou art
My fancies daily fly
My love is in thy beating heart
No other home have I
The spring and summer bloom of thee
And what thou art they are
Thy bonny breast my home shall be
And I thy love will share

412

2

4

My sweetest love, loves sweetest love the corn waves in the gale
And flowers so rich on every step make beautiful the vale

415

The birds are chirping in the bush, the lark springs from the corn
I've never spent a sweeter hour with thee since love was born
The rabbits dance upon the hills, and lick their velvet foot
Then hop away among the brakes, or hide them in the rut—

5

The hawk hangs still upon the air, a speck in yonder cloud
And in the old grown hedges there the wood dove cooes aloud,
On the dwarf broom the butterfly, just like a flower alive
Basks in the sun, while toiling bees haste to and from the hive
The heath vetch clings around to every bush and tree
As my love dear Miss W--- clings fondly unto thee—

SONG

[The sun was shining o'er the hill]

1

419

4

So come my old fellow
Let's go and get mellow
For care brings no hour of leisure
We've money and time
And just now in prime
To sit down enjoying our pleasure
'Tis summer's prime hours
And the room smel[l]s of flowers
Now boys is the season for leisure

STANZAS

[The passing of a dream]

1

The passing of a dream
Are the thoughts I have to day
Cloud shadows they all seem
And pass as soon away
Their meaning and their shade
I cannot well define
The little left unsaid
Seems others, and not mine

2

Here's a place so dainty dress't
That o'er my vision swim
Like a land in the far west
But alas my vision's dim
The trees are not the trees
Under which I used to play
And the flowers they cannot please
For I am sad to day

420

3

Here's the shumac all on fire
Like hot coals amid the green
It might please my heart's desire
If elsewhere the place had been
Here dreams their troubles make
To a body without pain
When shall my mind awake
In its own loved scenes again

MARY AYRE

1

The music of thy voice is steeling
Around the heart in fondest feeling
And leaves a passion past consealing
For bonny Mary Ayre

2

The breeze is flapping in the shrowd
The storm is singing in the cloud
And still the first in every crowd
Is bonny Mary Ayre

3

The flood and forrest doubly raves
A mist is hanging o'er the waves
And flowers are in a thousand graves
With floods and tempests o'er them

421

4

In every season of the year
Her voice in music songs I hear
In mountains, valleys, every where
I hear sweet Mary Ayre

5

There is a soul in natures voice
That makes my lonely heart rejoice
The breezes wisper my first choice
And that is Mary Ayre

THE WIND & TREES

5

O bonny are the highland hills
That overleuk the sea
The mountain and the siller rills
Nae sweeter land can be

SOME DAYS BEFORE THE SPRING

1

There's a gladness of heart in the first days of Spring
There's a pleasure in memory to hear the birds sing
The Pink or Hedgesparrow will sing at day break
Though a leaf on the hedges is hardly awake
As for flowers on the grass there's not one to be seen
And the grass in the fields scarce enough to be green
The ruts full of water all muddy and thick
Which the boy tries to stop with a bit of a stick

425

2

The bits of brown haystacks all cut to the core
In the grassy close corners show winter is o'er
With the oaks frowning o'er them all mossy and grey
They will stand in the shelter 'till they cut the new hay
The field-fare is there a seeking hedge fruits
And the crow on the grass, is boreing for roots
With the jackdaw that nauntles among the molehills
In their grey powdered wigs, and bright yellow bills

3

The stones in the brooks, are all covered with green
All trailing and spreading as mosses are seen
In the woods at the spring and the close of the year
When violets and primroses like sisters appear
How level the meadow, how saffron the sun
How fine is the web that the spider has spun
Round the twigs of the hedge and the bents of the vales
In the soft mornings sunshine and sweet evening gales

4

Then come let us walk and enjoy the brisk air
And fancy the change when sweet spring it is there
Wild flowers in the grass, and nests in the tree
A hedge for the bird and a flower for the bee
So away let us walk while the sun's in the sky
And the paths o'er the greensward and rushes are dry
And Mary will see what there is to be seen
The hedges swelled buds, and the meadows more green

426

TO MARY ANN B****

1

Along the pleasant banks of Nene
Arise my love and walk with me
And we'll enjoy the morning scene
Where all is beautiful like thee
The river flooded to the brim
The yellow trees the uplands grey
That in the light of heaven swim
Like rocks and vallies far away

2

Come Mary Ann and walk with me
Along the pleasant banks of Nene
The mist is gone and every tree
In mornings light is plainly seen
Sweet is the breath of morning jaunts
While bright dew lies on every place
The bee is on its wild flower haunts
The rose is in thy bonny face

3

The east is hung with golden gems
In crimson red and saphire blue
In gold and crystal fringed hems
The spiders lace is hung with dew
On each thorn branch and flowery stem
As if to decorate the place
For health and nature dwells with them
And shows its bloom upon thy face

427

4

Then walk with me sweet Mary Ann
And in the meadows meet the morn
Where nature lives as it began
And all her joys are newly born
Then Mary come and make more dear
The scene—and Eden it will be
When every gale thy voice will hear
And every vale be full of thee

SPRING VIOLETS

Sweet Maiden of the early spring
In broach of gold & apron blue
The early suns of march will bring
Thy loved companions fair & true
So purely white so sweetly blue
Beside the sunny hedge they grow
In clusters to the springtime true
How beautifull they show

The sparrows twitter in the hedge
& field mice rustle in the leaves
& there thou art thou bonny pledge
Like dreams spring fancies ever weaves

428

In purple vest and golden eye
All looking up for aprils dew
& catching pearls till gales pass bye
Then you are mornings weepers too

I love the April violet
With golden eye & dewy faces
They're in such lovely places met
The sunniest and the sweetest places
They are the breath of Spring & lie
On Hedgerow banks for all to get
The joy of every passer bye
The march & april violet

[Come hither ye who thirst]

1

Come hither ye who thirst
Pure still the brook flows on
Its waters are not curst
Clear from its rock of stone
It bubbles and it boils
An everlasting rill
Then eddies and recoils
And wimples clearer still
Art troubled then come hither
And tast[e] of peace for ever

2

Art weary heres the place
For weariness to rest
These flowers are herbs of grace
To cure the aching breast

429

Soft beds these mossy banks
Where dew drops only weep
Where nature turns god thanks
And sings herself to sleep
Art troubled with strife come hither
Here is peace and summer weather

3

Come hither for pleasure who list
Here is oak boughs for a shade
Their leaves they will hide from the mist
Ere the sun his broad disk has displayed
Here is peace if thy bosom be troubled
Here is rest if thou'rt weary—sit down
Here pleasure you'll find it is doubled
For content is lifes only crown
Disciples of sorrow come hither
For no blasts my joys can wither

4

Art sick of the naughty world
There's many been sick before thee
Then leave these young shoots with their tendrels curl'd
For the oaks that are mossy and hoary
Art weary with beating the flood
Here's a mossy bank—come and sit down
'Twas nature that planted this wood
Unknown to the sins of the town
Full of pride and contention come hither
We'll talk of our troubles together

5

433

3

The blackbird is a bonny bird
I love his mourning suit
And song in the spring mornings heard
As mellow as the flute
How sweet his song in April showers
Pipes from his golden bill
As yellow as the kingcup flowers
The sweetest ditty still

SONG

[Sweet is the light of thy bright eye]

1

Sweet is the light of thy bright eye
A living sun a living joy
Sweet is the smile of thy red cheek
Like rose skies when spring mornings break
Sweet are the swellings of thy breast
Like lilies when the lakes at rest
Thy figure, and thy dress so neat
And every thing about thee sweet

2

Sweet are my daily dreams of thee
And when I see the bush and tree
And hear the little linnet's song
I think of thee the whole day long
They are what once thou loved to see
When walking in the valley free
They are what once did please thy ears
In shadows of departed years

434

3

Thy face is sweet, thy cares are young
Thy voice is womans lovely tongue
Thy smiles are such as all delight
Thy thoughts are lilys clothed in light
Thy swan like neck, thy swelling breast
Like lilies on the lake at rest
Thou art of all the fairest flower
That blooms amid this earthly bower

HUNTING SONG

1

The woods are all colours and bright is the sun
The scent will lie strong on the fallows at morn
Hark-away to the field for the hunt has begun
Do'nt you hear the whip crack and the sound of the horn
The skies are ash coloured the fallows are brown
The red coated hunters are galloping by
And in the bleached woods at the end of the town
Horses caper, and dogs make a terrible cry

2

Hark-away to the noise there is health in the sound
The woods are as still as the ships in a bay
You hear the shrill whine of the favourite hound
That will track him, and harrass him all the long day
Hark-away to the woods, hark-away do but look
The fox has broke cover, and by the bent [spray]
Drops his tail but a moment, to lap at the brook
Then flies o'er the red russet fallows away

435

3

The woods as if painted in all colours shine
In brown's red and yellows the finest of scenes
The woods and the hedges look more than divine
Like paintings hung out in the beautiful greens
The cry of the hounds in the wild flurried sky
The sun crackles sweet on the stubbles so gray
'Tis the birthday of nature the foxhunters joy
So away to the fields, hark, forward, away—

MY EARLY HOME WAS THIS

1

Here sparrows built upon the trees
And stock-doves hide their nest
The leaves where winnowed by the breeze
Into a calmer rest
The black-caps song was very sweet
That used the rose to kiss
It made the paradise complete
My early home was this

2

The red breast from the sweet briar bush
Drop't down to pick the worm
On the horse chesnut sang the thrush
O'er the home where I was born

436

The dew morn like a shower of pearls
Fell o'er this ‘bower of bliss’
And on the bench sat boys and girls
—My early home was this

3

The old house stooped just like a cave
Thatched o'er with mosses green
Winter around the walls would rave
But all was calm within
The trees they were as green agen
Where bees the flowers would kiss
But flowers and trees seemed sweeter then
—My early home was this—

SONG Mary Appleby

1

4

Hesperus thy twinkling ray
Beams in the blue of heaven
And tells the traveller on his way
That earth shall be forgiven

440

[A rosey bud I would not kill]

1

A rosey bud I would not kill
To spoil its rich perfume
For the sweet flower can do no ill
So let it longer bloom
I would not hurt a thought of love
For all the world contains
Nor spoil the feather of the dove
Or turn delight to pains

2

For nature is the only thing
That we should ne'er destroy
'Tis gladsome as the skylarks wing
That singeth hymns of joy
Its first and earliest offspring love
The tints of every rose
Those flush tints kindled from above
That with all nature grows

3

'Tis robbing life of one fond hour
Some lonely thing of joy
To stoop and pluck a lonely flower
Or insect to destroy
A rosey bud I would not kill
To cheat the summer breath
For trueloves errand they fulfill
That never taste of death

441

SONG

[Smile again my lovely Lasses]

1

Smile again my lovely Lasses
Lovely lasses smile again
Loves joy all grief surpasses
And care may sigh in vain
There's the hill beside the barn
There's the knoll upon the bank
Where lovers true may meet and join
Lovely lasses smile again

2

Pools they gather on the plain
And tell of seasons dreary
Lovely lasses smile again
Then care will soon be weary
Green hills may shine in white
And clouds obscure the plain
Home's fire side will then delight
If lovely lasses smile again

TO A LARK SINGING IN WINTER

1

Wing-winnowing lark with speckled breast
Has just shot up from nightly rest
To sing two minutes up the west

442

Then drop again
Heres some small straws about her nest
All hid from men

2

Thou farmers minstrel ever cheery
Though winters all about so dreary
I dare say thou sat warm and erie
Between the furrows
And now thy song that flows unweary
Scorns earthly sorrows

3

The little mouse comes out and nibbles
The small weed in the ground of stubbles
Where thou lark sat and slept from troubles
Amid the storm
The stubbles ic'el began to dribble
In sunshine warm

4

Sweet minstrel of the farm and plough
When ploughmans fingers gin to glow
How beautiful and sweet art thou
Above his head
The stubble field is in a glow
All else seems dead

5

All dead without the stubble ground
Without a sight without a sound
But music sunshines all around
Beneath thy song
Winter seems softened at thy sound
Nor nips to wrong

443

6

On all the stubble-blades of grass
The melted drops turn beads of glass
Rime feathers upon all we pass
Everywhere hings
And brown and green all hues that was
Feathered like wings

7

It is a morn of ragged rime
The coldest blast of winter time
Is warmth to this Siberian clime
Dead winter sere
And yet that clod brown bird sublime
Sings loud and clear

8

The red round sun looks like a cheat
He only shines blood freezing heat
And yet this merry birds night seat
Seems warm's a sty
The stubble woods around it meet
And keep it dry

9

Each stubble stalk a jiant tree
Scarce higher than [an infant's] knee
Seem woods to stop the winds so blea
From this snug home
Boundless this stubble wood must be
[OMITTED]

10

How safe must be this birds sweet bed
In stubble fields with storms o'er head
Or skies like bluest curtains spread

444

Lying so lone
With bit of thurrow o'er her head
Mayhap a stone

11

The god of nature guides her well
To choose best dwellings for her sell
And in the spring her nest will tell
Her choice at least
For God loves little larks as well
As man or beast

12

Thou little bird thou bonny charm
Of every field and every farm
In every season cold and warm
Thou sing'st thy song
I wish thy russet self no harm
Nor any wrong

13

Free from the snares thy nature shuns
And nets and baits and pointed guns
Dangers thy timid nature shuns
May thou go free
Sweet bird as summer onward runs
I'll list' to thee

14

I'd writ one verse, and half another
When thou dropt down and joined a brother
And o'er the stubble swopt together
To play 'till dark
Then in thy night nest shun cold weather
As snug's a Lark

445

15

Old russet fern I wish thee well
Till next years spring comes by itsel
Then build thy nest and hide it well
'Tween rig or thurrow
No doubt may be this is the dell
—Spring comes the morrow

16

Then blossomed beans will bloom above thee
And bumble bee buz in and love thee
And nothing from thy nest shall moove thee
When may shines warm
And thy first minstrel[sy] above thee
Sing o'er the farm

SONG

[The moon above the hills is peeping]

1

The moon above the hills is peeping
The stars are in the purple skies
While lilies on the lake are sleeping
But not so dear as Nelly's eyes
I love the evening on the mountain
The tickling dripples from the spring
The sky's reflection in the fountain
But Nelly seems a dearer thing
She's lovely as her sister graces
For evening walks in sweetest places

446

2

How beautiful the moon is shining
How silver bright the stars appear
The clouds lie round like silver lining
The sweetest time in all the year
The sweetest time for Nelly's rambles
Is sure the shut of silent eve
The heath is overhung with brambles
That often catch at Nelly's sleeve
Come Nelly while the light remains
And let us ramble down the lanes

3

Where bloom the Canterbury bells
And where the foxglove flower reposes
Where the chaffinch sleeps in lonely dells
In the dog-briar bushes hung with roses.
Come sweet Nelly charming creature
Let thy evening walk be mine
Womans charms in every feature
Sweet as is the eglantine
Let us walk the heath together
In light of love, and summer weather

SONG

[Among the green bushes the songs of the thrushes]

1

Among the green bushes the songs of the thrushes
Are answering each other in music and glee
While the magpies and rooks in woods hedges—near brooks
Mount their spring dwellings on every high tree

447

There meet me at eve love we'll on grassy banks lean love
And crop a white branch from the scented may tree
Where the silver brook wimples and thy rosy cheek dimples
Sweet will the eve of that courting hour be—

2

We'll notice wild flowers love that grow by thorn bowers love
Though sinful to crop them now beaded with dew
The violet is thine love, the primrose is mine love
To spring and each other, so blooming and true
With dew drops all beaded, the feather grass seeded
The cloud mountains turn to dark woods in the sky
The daisey bud closes while sleep the hedge roses
There's nothing seems waking but you love and I

3

Larks sleep in the rushes linets perch on the bushes
While mag's on her nest with her tail peeping out
The moon it reveals her though she thinks night conceals her
Though bird nesting boys are not roving about
The night winds wont wrong her, nor aught that belong her
For night is the nurse of all nature in sleep.
The moon love is keeping a watch o'er the sleeping
And dews for real pleasures do nothing but weep

4

Among the green bushes we'll sit with the thrushes
And blackbirds and linnets an hour or two long
That are up at the dawning by times in the morning
To cheery thy milking with music and song
Then come at the eve love and where the banks lean love
By the brook that flows on in its dribbles of song
While the moon looks so pale love and the trees look so hale love
I will tell the[e] a love tale an hour or two long—

448

THE AIK

1

O there is one sweet dear thing
In every bodys mind
Sweet as life is to a king
Sweet as kindred to its kind
Some love the awthorn bush
Some love the woodland brake
—I loved the singing thrush
And I lov'd the woodland aik

2

For the thrush it loo'd the aik
And it built upo' the tap
And ere morn was wide awake
And every leaf did drap
Wi' the bright and glassy dew
While the thrush was on the aik
Singing every morning new
Pleased for its ain dear aik

3

O the mind has many things
To worship and admire
The hawk wi' winnowing wings
And the gilt fanes twittering fire
The aiks midsummer crown
Mang aither green luiks mellow
Theres some o' autumns brown
And some o gouden yellow

449

4

Morn and noon and eve
Bloom a' the aik thegether
And spring and autumn weave
Their several luiks o' weather
Brown dark green and yellow
And in its nest o' moss and clay
Where the thrush sings with its fellow
A' through the summers day

[I lay me down with thoughts of thee]

1

I lay me down with thoughts of thee
And dream of thee in sleep
And when night dew hangs on the tree
'Tis beautiful to weep
'Tis beautiful to see thee pass
In visions of the night
With eyes as clear as liquid glass
And features fair as light

2

'Tis beautiful to see thy form
In the pupil of loves eye
A womans shadow soft and warm
Like an angel from the sky
With locks of auburn hanging down
Thy shoulders chaste and white
Thus fleecy clouds as soft as down
Hang round the moon at night

450

3

'Tis sweet to see thee vanish past
In the dark and midnight eye
I try to clasp the vision fast
But faster it will fly—
Thou art the soul of midnight thought
The life of lonely dreams
Each night thou'rt in my fancy sought
Then beautiful all seems

THE ROUND OAK

1

The Apple top't oak in the old narrow lane
And the hedge row of bramble and thorn
Will ne'er throw their green on my visions again
As they did on that sweet dewy morn
When I went for spring pooteys and birds nests to look
Down the border of bushes ayont the fair spring
I gathered the palm grass close to the brook
And heard the sweet birds in thorn bushes sing

2

I gathered flat gravel stones up in the shallows
To make ducks and drakes when I got to a pond
The reed sparrows nest it was close to the sallows
And the wrens in a thorn bush a little beyond

451

And there did the stickleback shoot through the pebbles
As the bow shoots the arrow quick darting unseen
Till it came to the shallows where the water scarce drebbles
Then back dart again to the spring head of green

3

The nest of the magpie in the low bush of white thorn
And the carrion crows nest on the tree o'er the spring
I saw it in march on many a cold morn
When the arum it bloomed like a beautiful thing
And the apple top't oak aye as round as a table
That grew just above on the bank by the spring
Where every saturday noon I was able
To spend half a day and hear the birds sing

4

But now there's no holidays left to my choice
That can bring time to sit in thy pleasures again
Thy limpid brook flows and thy waters rejoice
And I long for that tree—but my wishes are vain
All that's left to me now I find in my dreams
For fate in my fortune's left nothing the same
Sweet Apple top't oak that grew by the stream
I loved thy shade once—now I love but thy name

June 19/46

452

THE MAID IN THE SPRING

Sonnet

The maidens light foot seems to pity the flowers
She bruises with treading on in their blooming hours
In her hurrying haste she oft goes to tie
A broken cowslip stalk that the flower should not die
With a blade of the grass that her feet must crush
And for sake of the linets nest loves the green bush
And talks to the leaves smiling green in her eye
To hide the nest well till the young ones can fly
And when speed is most urgent she'll deem it not vain
To turn back and lift up the daisey again
Though her mother was ill and the docter was sought
Sick flowers must be minded to do as she ought
The nightingales her's and all birds on the wing
So the fond maiden sings to herself in the spring

HOPE & JOY

Hopes have many autumns so have joys
Small is the blast that fades them—less destroys
The tender leaves bear not the slightest wrong
Fading like first thoughts of young poets song
As stars melt the darkness to purple or grey
So hope melts the dread of our sorrows away
As thunder storms loose their dread blackness when near
So hope in our dangers will lessen their fear
Daiseys shut up at even like hail when we pass
But open by daylight bright stars in the grass

453

So hope and joy bud[s] to spectators unknown
Are insights to heaven when the flower is full blown
Whether bred on the earth or sent down from above
Hope and joy are but two other names for true love

[My spirit lives in silent sighs]

1

My spirit lives in silent sighs
And gazing upon thee
I hear thy silence make replies
To every thing but me
I see thy silence talk to flowers
The birds will sing to thee
And lonely in these lonely hours
You never talk to me

2

I never hear thy voice nor know
Its sound in fancy's ear
A silent shade where'ere I go
In beauty hovers near
Do wild flowers love; I think they do
And often stooping down
I hear them talk to shower and dew
On many a lovely mound

3

I often see thy fairy form
In springs bee singing hours
Light stepping on in fancy warm
As love among the flowers

454

Just as the breeze in sunshines pass
So maids in summer hours
So rove as not to harm the grass
Nor tread upon the flowers

THE LONELY FLOWER

1

O bonny is the lonesome flower
That blossoms in the lonely glen
Self sharing dew and sun and shower
And blooming from the eyes of men

2

And bonnily awoke the morn
Upon its undefiled bloom
The sweetest flower that ere was born
Is hidden in the vales of broom

3

Its leaves are wet with drops of dew
And so's the woodlarks spotted breast
Brushing them off from where she flew
The cowslip close beside her nest

455

4

Its root increased from year to year
Its peeps they blossomed all the may
The school-boy knew not where to spier
The milkmaid passed it every day

5

O bonny is the lonesome flower
That blossoms in the lonely glen
Shares by itself the sun and shower
And blossoms from the eyes of men

SONG

[Is may to bloom without thee]

1

Is may to bloom without thee
My beautiful Hellen
And spring spread green about thee
And come not near thy dwelling
If thou art absent Hellen
The spring is abscent too
The birds no tales are telling
The morning brings no dew

2

The white-thorn bloom is swelling
The white flower peeping through
I thought of absent Hellen
And keen the winter blew

456

Free as the air I ranged
With Hellen cheerful hearted
But o how nature changed
When Hellen she departed

3

The grass and thorn turned black
Flowers frost nipt in the blast
As spring would ne'er come back
And the summer time was past
When spring flowers tales are telling
And birds begin to sing
I still expected Hellen
Would blossom with the spring

Feby 4th/47

SONG

[The kingcups shew their golden looks]

1

The kingcups shew their golden looks
Flowers bloom before they wither
So come my love we'll stride the brooks
And climb the hill together
I love thee for thy happy face
Thy links of dark brown hair
I love thee for thy shape and face
Thy eyes so bright and fair

2

Sweet Hellen I love thee well
Thou first sweet flower of spring
The ash tree bark thy name shall tell
Where I thy beauties sing

457

Where on the early leafing thorn
The speckled thrushes sing
And primrose neath the hazels born
Show the first loves of spring—

3

The spring is of thee—and the birds
That in the woods rejoice
Thy beauties sing in better words
And emulate thy voice
The bushes in the green so warm
That loves the suns controul
Shews nature in its happiest charm
Where woman is the soul—

4

O Ellen my earthly love
With angel face and eye
I see thee in the stars above
And varigated sky—
Thy happy cheeks of rosey glow
Thy eyes so bright and fair
Thy womans beauty here below
Reflects an angel there—

THE CAMP

1

Will you come to the camp in the pale moonlight
Where stars are the watchmen each sweet summers night
Will you come to the camp when the stars shine bright
In the pale moonlight

458

2

Will you come to the camp ere the moon goes down
Where the song shall be sung o'er the ale so brown
Will you come to the camp not a mile from the town
Ere the moon goes down

3

The joys of the camp are not cares of the crown
There'll be fiddling and dancing a mile from the town
Will you come to the camp ere the moon goes down
A mile from the town

4

The camp of the gipseys is sweet by moon light
In the furze and the hawthorn—and all out of sight
There'll be fiddling, and dancing and singing to night
In the pale moon light

TO A STRANGER

1

The visions of love are as true as the season
As true as the flower to the bosom of spring
Sweet stranger I saw thee—thy look was so pleasing
Love touched on the chord of its slenderest string
I saw thee and loved thee, and fail to compare thee
To any thing else half so lovely as thou
The bird in its music has nothing to spare thee
And thou'rt fairer than blossoms that hang on the bough.

459

2

Thy looks were so blooming, thy smile so endearing
My glad heart was happy to gaze on thy face
The sweetest of flowers in the summer appearing
Was nought to compare when you bloomed in their place
Thy cheek sweetest health in her pride did adorn it
'Twas simple and lovely as woman could be
The roses of summer had spread their leaves o'er it
And made it the bloom of no being but thee.

3

Thy looks were so win[n]ing thy face so unseeming
I never was charmed so by any before
The sweetest the rose is at mornings begining
But thou art far dearer full fifty times o'er
Sweet stranger I've seen thee, and love and admire thee
I know not thy name, on a stranger I gaze
As a stranger I dare not think love may inspire thee
'Tho I sing in a ballad of love in thy praise.

TWILIGHT

1

Sweet twilight, nurse of dews
And mother of sweet hours

460

With thee a walk I choose
Among the hawthorn bowers
That overhang the molehil greenly gray
Made as it were to intercept the way

2

Beetles are thy trumpeters
And to thy silence play
Where the soft still rustle stirs
O'er dead winds of the day
Mid marshy sedge dull aspens and pasture rushes
O'er green corn fields and hedge row bushes

3

Thy hours have one light place
Streaky and dunly grey
As if the night was giving place
And bringing back the day
The sun seems coming so the eye beleives
But darkness deepens round and undeceives

4

O'er brooks the weeping ash
Hangs cool and grimly dark
I hear the water splash
And then half fearing mark
In ivy'd ash a robber near the stream
'Till from a nearer view I find it but a dream

461

5

Sweet twilight nurse of night
Thy path the milk maid treads
With nimble step so light
Scarce bends the cowslips heads
But hastening on ere by thy light forsook
She leaves her cows all resting by the brook

6

Sweet twilight thy cool dews
Are beautifully spread
Where the nightingale its song renews
Close by the old cow shed
In that low hazel oft' I've heard her sing
While sombre evening came on downy wing

7

The playful rabit too
Its white scut glancing
Amid the silver dew
I've seen them oft advancing
In troops from spiney's where they love to dwell
Dancing on molehills in the open dell

8

Spring leaves seem old in green
And the dull thorn is lost in the[e]—
Dun twilight—but the hazel still is seen
In sleeping beauty by the old oak tree
Giving the woods a beauty and a power
While earth seems Eden in such an hour

462

9

Sweet twilight in thy dews
And silence I rejoice
Thy odd stars bid me muse
And give to silence voice
Now twilight ceases on the verge of even’
And darkness like a pawl spreads over heaven

THE SIMPLE FLOWER

1

I ever loved the simple flower
Where woman cast her eye
There's not a bloom in walk or bower
Like that she wandered by
'Twas faith without a tear or sigh
It drank dews from above
'Twas joy and hope and poesy
—It won a womans love

2

I lov'd the flower she gazed upon
And stooped to gaze again
It seemed the sweetest in the sun
The fairest on the plain
I loved sweet woman in that hour
The sun smiled sweet above
And when she looked upon that flower
The flower itself was Love

463

AN ACROSTIC On the Revd Wm Todman Yardley Hastings

Right is the man who builds his hopes on high
Eternal language written in the sky
Verse there is melody outpeering time
Diurnal tongues of stars and suns sublime
Wisdom is written there without disguise
Mind in that shining volume never dies
To day, tomorrow still remain the same
On the eternal record they proclaim
Death there is no inhabitant—they shine
Mid centuries past—and still appear divine
Another world in every star appears
'Neath the blue concave of the rolling spheres
Young worlds, and newer systems reappear
Another and another year by year
Revolving in immensity of space
Designed for heaven and the human race
Light there is endless—the eternal spheres
Envelope destinies unknown to years
Youth is their atmosphere—life never dies
Hours are as centuries in those happy skies
All there is timeless, endless, spaceless all
Stations for angels free from human thrall
To day—tomorrow never shadows there
In climes celestial lives no shades of care
Nought mortal lives—all that was dust is gone
God is their sovereign and the only one.

464

SONG

[Ive been roaming in the gloaming]

1

Ive been roaming in the gloaming,
Where the mist fell o'er the braes;
I had na' thoughts o' sweethearts coming,
As the rain would spoil her claes;
The cobweb lace upon the fern
Bedeck'd wi' dew on every space
The very like that Mary had
When she was in her last years place

2

The burnie trotting down the brae
A market pace is hardly seen
The river rolling far away
A race horse speed in silver sheene
And will the bonny Mary come
And will the bonny Mary dare
To face the mist and face the gloom
The evening walk with me to share

3

We'll wander o'er the ling clad brae,
We'll wander by the mountain side
And meet joy where the burnie strae's
Gif' Mary'll be my bonny bride
The mist scarce sprinkles in my face
The evening now is calm and fair
The old thorn is our trysting place
And I'll meet bonny Mary there

465

THE FALSE ONE

1

O dinna paint her looks to me
I canna bear to hear it
The last war faus, as faus can be
And now I dinna fear it
The last war faus to me laddie
As thine war faus to thee
I want na' more to grie' laddie
Sae let the hizze be.

2

When e'er they tauk'd o' what she war
She tossed her head so high
And to mak the matter waur laddie
She turn'd her nose awry—
When she war proved a whare laddie
She drop't her head fu' low
And I knew more than they could tell
So I let the hizzey gae.

3

I guess'd it lang, and thought it lang
Till a' the guess went by
The poet danged her in a sang
And still she wa' fu' high
But sin' I faund the hizzey's ways
She dinna luik at me
As red as madder in the braes
She burned my face to see.

1

The morning tide is sweet and fair
The birds chirp loud in white thorn bushes
Sweet maiden let us take the air
Where runlets dribble through the rushes

469

2

I'll gaze upon thy happy face
Thy comely shape thy eye shall charm
As in the early spring we trace
The healthy breath of field and farm

3

There is music without ere a bird
There is bloom without ere a flower
For eolean winds we oft' have heard
And the grass blooms fresher every hour

4

The very rushes seem as flowers
That nod above the marshy grass
Through which the winds in summer hours
Whistle and winnow as they pass

5

The lark may leave the new ploughed land
And settle in another place
Yet poets see and understand
Sweet music in its russet face

6

And if we earnest look we see
The daisey bud in April hours
And all the buds in spring agree
That hopes are sweeter far than flowers

470

THE OLD YEAR

1

The Old Year's gone away
To nothingness and night
We cannot find him all the day
Nor hear him in the night
He left no footstep mark or place
In either shade or sun
Tho' last year he'd a neighbours face
In this he's known by none

2

All nothing every where
Mists we on mornings see
They have more substance when they're here
And more of form than he
He was a friend by every fire
In every cot and hall
A guest to every hearts desire
And now he's nought at all

3

Old papers thrown away
Or garments cast aside
E'en the talk of yesterday
Are things identified
But time once torn away
No voices can recall
The eve of new years day
Left the old one lost to all

Jany 1st/45

471

SONG

[I fly from all I prize the most]

1

I fly from all I prize the most
I shun what I loved best to see
My joy seems gone—my peace seems lost
And all I loved is hate to me
I shun green fields and hate the light
The glorious sun the peaceful moon
More welcome is the darkest night
Then glaring daylight comes to[o] soon

2

'Tis not the kiss that pouts to leave
The lips of woman that we love
'Tis not the world—that will deceive
Or any doubt of that above
'Tis something that my heart hath been
'Tis something that my heart approvd
'Tis something that my eyes have seen
And felt they loved—

3

I grieve not those I loved are gone
That happy years have pass'd away
That time to day keeps stealing on
To that ye call eternity
I grieve not that the seasons fade
That winter chills the summer dew
While mortal things are heavenly made
And all now doubt will soon be true

472

4

To thee my love, and only thee
The spring and summer seemeth true
Thy looks are like the flowers I see
Thy eyes like air-bells filled with dew
Thy look is that of happiest love
And playful as the summer sea
Thy health is from the skies above
And heaven itself is full of thee—

SONG—THE ECCHO

The caulderwood ecchoes are loud in their glee
Sounds—music repeatin' throug bushes & tree
& dear are the ecchoe's that babble & sing
As win's that fan through the brown heather o' spring
Of Jessey they sing joinin' songs o' the bee
That the sweet mountain lassie is dearest to me

473

The caulderwood ecchoes are callin' agen
Whats sed on the mountain they tell to the glen
Whats sed in the valley they spak on the hill
Sweet caulderwood ecchoes will never lie still
What I spak' to mysell they answer in glee
But what they tell Jessey sounds music to me

Right dear are the ecchoes o' caulderwood glen
They are heard by scotch lasses & dear to scotch men
But when they name ‘Jessey’ mair sweetly they soun'
& music seems ringin' the mountains aroun'
For Jessie's a name I luv' dear to my sell
But Caulderwood echoes Love secrets will tell

Sweet caulderwood glen to the valley replies
Callin' on callin' on till the starn's i' the skies
& then I meet Jessie to court her agen
When caulderwood ecchoes cant see to the glen
But if the moon shines then Jessey I see
& dear are the stories they mutter to me

Auld caulderwood glen may thy ecchoes be still
On the summers green valley over mountain & rill
The muin shiney neet & the lang simmers day
Sweet caulderwood ecchoes are never awa'
& craggie burn ecchoes what do they a' ca'
That Jessie the mountain maids dearer then a'

474

SANG TO ANNIE

The broom it is bloomin'
I' yellow & green
& the e'enin' dews cumin'
On the daisey at e'en
When the mountains aye sweeter
Then citys by day
An' the brown ling lukes neater
Then gardens sae gay
The wee birdies cheepin'
In brackens sae green
An' the burnie rins dreepin'
Till it fa's i' the linn
The muircocks croons saucey
On the mountains sae bra'
Where Annie my lassie
Is dearer then a'

The broom is na finer
Then the links o' her hair
Na' daisy diviner
Wi her smiles may compare

475

Na' mountain flower sweeter
Be't sweet as it may
Her face is compleater
& sweeter then they
The wee birdies music
Is nae like her sang
Music's heard when she's talkin'
An' a' the day lang
Nay fountain sae glassy
As the fount o' her e'e
Then the bonnie scotch lassie
Nane sweeter may be

She's as bright as the sun beam
On the mountain taps gleamin
Her e'en bright as burn stream
By the mountain side streamin
Her face is as fine as
The wild rose i' simmer
Her shape as divine as
The saplin fir timmer
The flowers o' the brae
& the wins o' the hill
She's fairer an' sweeter
An bonnier still
Where the mountain win's pass ye
To freshen the scene
I'll meet the scotch lassie
I' the gloamin' at e'en

476

SONG

[Where doth true Love dwell]

Where doth true Love dwell
Doth it nestle in blossoms
Is it down the green Lane
Where the thorn trees remain
Doth it tread the green grass
Where the foot paths they pass
No—it dwells in a fond womans bosom

Doth it live in the brooks
As they image the skys
Doth it live in the fields
Where the pea bloom consceals
Is it in meadow hay
With the green crickets lay
No no—tis in fond womans eyes

Is it seen in the pea
Or the hue of the hip
Peach blossoms of spring
Or the goldfinches wing
In the bloom of the rose
Where the butterflye goes
No—tis met on a young woman's lip

The gales may sigh sweetly
The flower keep on blooming
Field wood & grove
We may seek for true love

477

Search earth sea & sky
'Twill never come nigh
For it dwells in the heart of a woman

THE GREEN LANE

1

I met thee on the sabath eve
All in the sunday dew
When sunshine o'er the hill took leave
Dip dipping out of view
And there we stroll'd for many hours
And said we'd meet again
But I can't forget the leaves and flowers
And the Old green lane

2

The spreading oak at the lane end
Was ne'er so green and bright
Nor the thorn so sweet in that lone glen
As they were that sunday night
The sun it set and lowly drop't
Yet gold clouds did remain
And though the singing birds are stop't
I love the Old green lane

3

The beaten path went winding on
The bushes look'd so green
The leveret it went scouting on
And nothing else was seen

478

Till I met with her I went to meet
I wish 'twas here again
For memory can't forget as yet
That Old green lane

4

And what she wore, and what she were
I need not tell to you
I often heard the evening char
And saw the blebs of dew
Her smile the sweetest e're was seen
When shall I see't again
A sweeter treat I've never seen
Than her in the green lane

5

The breeze it wispered here she comes
I look'd and there she sat
The partrich creak'd its evening songs
And whirr'd the merry chat
But what she said, or what I did
Must not be told again
They're secrets now for ever hid
Told in the Old green Lane

[O'er Scotland's vales and mountains high]

1

O'er Scotland's vales and mountains high
I've tented sheep and herded kye
Where every bush and every tree
Was health and happiness to me

479

The mountain rills ran to the sea
A sunday song of harmony
And every day on hills and dales
'Twas harmony in all her vales

2

The sea-waves, and the ocean spray
The river shining far away
The cataract bursting o'er the rock
In silver foam with thunder shock
Where Scotlands scenes and Scotlands pride
And in my boyhood deified
I lov'd them all and every fame
That wore the tartan of its name

3

I love her rivers and her floods
Her mountains valleys, and her woods
I love her heaths of goss and heather
Her mountains mists and cloudy weather
The spreading hills all dark wi' kye
The muircocks where they wirring fly
Scotland I love thy every scene
Thy Bannockburn and Bonny Jean

480

LARKS AND SPRING

The sunny end of March is nigh
And not a cloud is in the sky
Along the footpath o'er the farm
The school-boy basket on his arm
Seeks the birds nest therein to look
He takes a stone to cross the brook
Made wider by the rainy night
And hums the music of delight
To see the rabits seek their burrow
Or ground lark from the fallow'd furrow
Start up and shiver while he sings
Then drop as though he'd lost his wings
As stunt and heavy as a stone
In the brown furrow still and lone
And still I love the ground-larks flight
Starting up the ploughmans height
And more and more unseal his eye
When rose leaves pave the eastern sky
To see the skylark as he springs
Shake mornings moisture from his wings
And rise and sing in music proud
Small as a bee beneath a cloud
'Till mixing with the vapours dun
He's lost in valleys of the sun
And singing on in springs delight
Some moments e're he comes in sight

481

It drops, and drops from breezy morn
To seek its mate amid the corn
A happy song the skylark brings
And spring's in every note he sings
With coppled crown, and speckled breast
The pilewort blooms above his nest
In rain it seeks the sheltering furrow
But sings when sunshine comes tomorrow
In every field they mount and sing
The songs of Nature and of Spring.

EARLY MORNING

1

The day it was dawning so soon in the morning
When o'er the green meadow I wandered along
The birds were all silent in the mornings grey twilight
And nothing was heard but the grasshoppers song

2

Like the wind through a cloister the breeze blew its moisture
In blushes of mist as I wandered along
And the dew drops looked through on the beautiful blue
Of the cranesbill that grew in the meadow so strong

482

3

The skylark and linet rose up in a minute
As soon as I moved mid the green waving bushes
And morning skip'd by me, both far off and nigh me
While the air on my cheeks came in beautiful gushes

4

The mist of the morning the meadows adorning
All verged the orison in purple and grey
And where the sun rises, his crimson surprises
Is waking from rest to emblazon the day

5

As I was returning, that midsummer morning
Along the green meadow so blooming and gay
I met a sweet maid there, with rose cheek and arms bare
And bid her good morning so soon in the day

6

Her voice was all melody, like leaves on a holiday
Her blush was as sweet as the rose is in may
Her eyes were as bright as, the dews of that night was
When I met her that morning so soon in the day

7

The dews where she treaded their silver light sheded
And flew from her foot steps in showers of pearl
The grass brushed her light shoe so black and so bright to[o]
And sweet was the smile of this beautiful girl

8

I kissed her so fearful, but she looked so cheerful
All fear of her anger soon vanished away
I left her all smiling the Summer beguiling
And promised to meet her the next happy day—

483

[There is a charm in nature felt and seen]

1

There is a charm in nature felt and seen
In every season of the varied year
In winters frost in springs reviving green
'Tis every where

2

In foreign lands how beautiful the sight
Over a thousand mountains of snow sprey
With nought of green—but mountains pale as light
And all the way

3

The springs green herbage full of flowers
And fields where lives the lark mid greener grain
We love and worship them in April hours
Then wish again

4

That spring with all her joys would longer last
But summer with young buds is left to cho[o]se
And brings once more in memory of the past
Flowers of all hues

5

Then autumn red and yellow quickly pass
Like broods of nestling birds upon the wing
Till all is gone and nothing but the grass
Remembers spring

6

The wind the shower, the drapery of the sky
When day cools over meadows into dun
And clouds in gold and crimson glories lie
In set of sun

484

7

A globe of fire and as a table round
Then wastes to half still shutting out the day
Till the curved rim drops quickly in the ground
And all is gray

SONG

[Soft falls the sweet evening]

1

Soft falls the sweet evening
Bright shines the one star
The night clouds they're leaning
On mountains afar
The moon in dim brightness
The fern in its lightness
Tinge the valley with whiteness
Both near and afar

2

O soft falls the evening
Around those sweet glens
The hill's shadows leaning
Half over the glen
There meet me my deary
I'm lonely and weary
And nothing can cheer me
So meet me agen

3

The gate it clap'd slightly
The noise it was small
The footstep fell lightly
And she pass'd the stone wall

485

And is it my deary
I'm no longer weary
But happy and cheery
For in thee I meet all

SONG

[My mamme des not ken]

1

My mamme des not ken
And my daddie must not know
Where I meet wi' a young man
Be't hail rain or snow
I stoll across the hame clos
And met him in the byre
And my new gown I'll darn it
For it caught agen the briar

2

I show my face the looking glass
And steal my bonnet on
And when I see theres time to pass
Through the back door I'm gone
I gae back way to shun the street
That ne'er an eye may see
And Rabbie at the byre I meet
That came to meet wi' me

3

I cropt a win upo' the know
When Rabbie he was bye
It war' to me a gladsome show
And scent o' nought but joy

486

Rab said it stank about the fold
And that I need not take
And here it is at three moons old
I keep it for his sake

4

A' summer lang I could na' tire
In ganging to the fauld
The sweet-briar bush agen the byre
Smelt sweet through heat and cold
But mammie does not ken
And daddie must not know
That Jennie's fond of a young man
And meets where rushes grow

SONG

[There's suns in the dew blebs]

1

There's suns in the dew blebs
Like diamonds they shine
There's beads on the cobwebs
And the thorn is divine
With the dews o' the e'ening
And gems o' the morning
The ilka leafs leaning
Wi' natures adorning

2

The muircock is whirrin
The patrich is scraitchin
The bum-clock is burrin
And the wild deer is reaching

487

The moss by the burn side
Then hieing away
When near him the churn cried
And the mist curdled grey

3

But where is my charmer
And where can she be
The sun glowing warmer
Sheds gold on the tree
The mist canna' reach her
A' gold in the lea
Could nature but teach her
She'd wander wi' me

4

I wait in the waukin
Where nobody sees
Where the trees they are talking
To the songs of the bees
When day gins to wander
There will many eye see
And talk over slander
O Lucy and me

488

THE AUTUMN WIND

1

The Autumn wind on suthering wings
Plays round the oak-tree strong
And through the hawthorn hedges sings
The years departing song
There's every leaf upon the whirl
Ten thousand times an hour
The grassy meadows crisp and curl
With here and there a flower
There's nothing in the world I find
That pleases like the Autumn wind

2

The chaffinch flies from out the bushes
The bluecap ‘tee hees’ on the tree
The wind sues on in merry gushes
His murmuring autumns minstrelsy
The robin sings his autumn song
Upon the crabtree overhead
The clouds like smoak slow sail along
Leaves rustle like the human tread
There's nothing suits my musing mind
So pleasant as the Autumn wind

489

3

How many miles it suthers on
And stays to dally with the leaves
And when the first broad blast is gone
A stronger gust the foliage heaves
The poplar tree it turns to gray
As leaves lift up their underside
The birch it dances all the day
To rippling billows petrified
There's nothing calms the quiet mind
So welcome as the Autumn wind

4

Sweet twittering o'er the meadow grass
Soft sueing o'er the fallow ground
The lark starts up as on they pass
With many a gush and moaning sound
It fans the feathers of the bird
And ruffs the robins ruddy breast
As round the hovel end it whirled
Then sobs and gallops o'er the west
In solitude the musing mind
Must ever love the Autumn wind

Oct 15th/45

490

LOVE OF LIBERTY

1

Bless't is the man with mind erect—
That seeks no rise that fears no fall
For freedoms love shall him protect
And having nothing leaves him all
There liberty is ever free
Knowing that such a love must be

2

'Tis Adam's love for Adam's kin
That Eden of earths Liberty
That triumphs over death and sin
And will in natures love be free
'Twas so when this our world begun
Love—bright and lasting as the sun

3

Free bonds that knit the son and sire
The daughter and the mother too
The links of heavens eternal fire
Which death and hell can ne'er undo
The love of Liberty is free
Feeling that such a love must be

4

I bear my fate—but no misdeeds
Has ever been my minds disgrace
But like the corn above the weeds
I make earths home my dwelling place
Love Liberty and think I'm free
For Freedom's love is all to me—

Feby 14th/47

491

[Flowers shall hang upon the pawls]

1

Flowers shall hang upon the pawls
Brighter than patterns upon shawls
And blossoms shall be in the coffin lids
Sadder than tears on greifs eyelids
Garlands shall hide pale corp[s]es faces
When beauty shall rot in charnel places
Spring flowers shall come in dews of sorrow
For the maiden goes down to her grave tomorrow

2

Last week she went walking and stepping along
Gay as first flowers of spring or the tune of a song
Her eye was as bright as the sun in its calm
Her lips they were rubies her bosom was warm
And white as the snowdrop that lies on her breast
Now death like a dream is her bedfellow guest
And white as the sheets—aye and paler than they
Now her face in its beauty has perished to clay

3

Spring flowers they shall hang on her pawl
More bright than the pattern that bloom'd on her shawl
And blooms shall be strewn where the corp[s]es lies hid
More sad than the tears upon griefs eyelid
And ere the return of another sweet May
Shall be rotting to dust in the coffined clay
And the grave whereon the bright snowdrops grow
Shall be the same soil as the beauty below

Feby 11th/47

492

THE SHADY FOREST

1

'Tis beautiful sunshine and beautiful skies
That please me the best whereso[e]ver I go
In the sweet shaded forest 'tis there my heart lies
Not needing a friend—or dreading a foe
O the sweet shady forest how sweet the green seems
So full of the summer and wild-flowers dreams

2

My heart has no malice for none of mankind
My heart feels no envy wherever I go
But I fly to green solitudes treat for my mind
And the sweet shady forest my image will show
There I'd live in its green, and in natures own plan
And where nothing hurts nature I then feel I'm a man

Feby 11th/47

THE THISTLE

1

I love the thistle with its ruddy flowers
It cheers me on the waste in lonely hours
It cheers me in lone sunshine out of doors
When seeking solitude on rushy moores

493

It cheers me resting on the way-side stones
Where tears of morning glitter on the thorns
I love the thistle 'tis an ill used flower
And bees are singing round for many an hour

2

I love the thistle and its prickles too
Cobwebs are round it with a veil of dew
I love the thistle where it bravely stands
For rights of Liberty in many lands
Simply defying every rogueish eye
With ‘wha dare meddle wi me’ that passes bye
My right is simple, blooming 'mong the flowers
That God's hand scatters on this land of ours

3

So I love the thistles spread round Scottish bowers
Better than any other of the wildling flowers
I love the warrior thistle where it stands
Though often wounded in the legs and hands
On Bannockburn its bloom undaunted stood
Dy'd deeper in the streams of human blood

Feby 13th/47

494

EVENING

1

Barn door fowls have gone to bed
Though the sun is two yards high
Ere it reach the top lands head
That takes days lamp from out the sky
Now the horses round the cribs
Brouzes o'er the coarser hay
While the ploughmen comb their ribs
'Till the evening wanes to grey

2

Then the boy with speach all hoarse
Mocking the echo in the wood
Brings the cows from their green close
That in the hovel chew their cud
Now the owl on wheaten wing
And white hood scowling o'er his eyes
Jerking with a sudden spring
Through three-cornered barn hole flies

3

The sun is sinking low and red
A coal turned dim from gazing
Among the oak-trees goes to bed
And sets the woods a blazing
The dewy leaves will quickly drop
And daylight close his eye
And labours rustic sounds will stop
'Neath evenings quiet sky

Feby 13th/47

495

SONG

[I would not be a wither'd leaf]

1

I would not be a wither'd leaf
Twirled in an autumn sky
Mine should not be a life so brief
To fade and fall and die

2

Nor would I be a wither'd flower
Whose stalk was broke before
The bud showed bloom in springs young hour
Heart sicken'd at the core

3

But I would be a happy thought
With thy sweet sleep to lie
To live unknown, unseen, unsought
And keep my lonely joy

4

Yes I would be a ray of light
In the apple of thy eye
And watch o'er thee the live long night
In beauty, and in joy

March 3rd/47

496

THE WINTERS SPRING

1

The winter comes I walk alone
I want no birds to sing
To those who keep their hearts their own
The winter is the Spring
No flowers to please—no bees to hum
The coming Springs already come

2

I never want the christmas rose
To come before its time
The seasons each as God bestows
Are simple and sublime
I love to see the snow storm hing
'Tis but the winter garb of Spring

3

I never want the grass to bloom
The snow-storm's best in white
I love to see the tempest come
And love its piercing light
The dazzled eyes that love to cling
O'er snow white meadows sees the Spring

4

I love the snow the crimpling snow
That hangs on every thing
It covers every thing below
Like white doves brooding wing
A landscape to the aching sight
A vast expance of dazzling light

497

5

It is the foliage of the woods
That winter's bring—The dress
White easter of the year in bud
That makes the winter Spring
The frost and snow his poseys bring
Natures white spirits of the Spring

Feby 23rd/47

SONNET Wood Anemonie

The wood anemonie through dead oak leaves
And in the thickest woods now blooms anew
And where the green briar, and the bramble weaves
Thick clumps o' green, anemonies thicker grew
And weeping flowers, in thousands pearled in dew
People the woods and brakes, hid hollows there
White, yellow and purple hued the wide wood through
What pretty, drooping weeping flowers they are
The clipt' frilled leaves the slender stalk they bear
On which the drooping flower hangs weeping dew
How beautiful through april time and may
The woods look, filled with wild anemonie
And every little spinney now looks gay
With flowers mid brush wood and the hugh oak tree.

498

SONNET The Primrose

Sweet primrose peeping in the hazel copse
Beneath the maple roots of grass green moss
Where hermit woodman at his labour stops
Or may be peeping by a clump of gorse
Its sulphur bunches flower with brunny eye

SONNET The Crow

How peaceable it seems for lonely men
To see a crow fly in the thin blue sky
Over the woods and fealds, o'er level fen
It speaks of villages, or cottage nigh
Behind the neighbouring woods—when march winds high
Tear off the branches of the hugh old oak
I love to see these chimney sweeps sail by
And hear them o'er the knarled forest croak
Then sosh askew from the hid woodmans stroke
That in the woods their daily labours ply
I love the sooty crow nor would provoke
Its march day exercises of croaking joy
I love to see it sailing to and fro
While feelds, and woods and waters spread below

499

SILENT LOVE

1

The dew it trembles on the thorn
Then vanishes so love is born
Young love that speaks in silent thought
'Till scorned, then withers and is nought

2

The pleasure of a single hour
The blooming of a single flower
The glitter of the morning dew
Such is young love when it is new

3

The twitter of the wild birds wing
The murmur of the bees
Lays of hay crickets when they sing
Or other things more frail than these

4

Such is young love when silence speaks
Till weary with the joy it seeks
Then fancy shapes sup[p]lies
'Till sick of its own heart it dies

5

The dew drop falls at mornings hour
When none are standing by
And noiseless fades the broken flower
So lovers in their silence die

500

1 [Is love a flower to bud then bloom]

Is love a flower to bud then bloom
And give to sunshine its perfume
Then die and be as nothing where
The earth of the succeeding year
And is it nothing else but earth
Sure it is of holier birth
Not born to fade and pass away
But like the heavens eternal ray
Bright, beaming beautiful and high
As morning in a summer sky
As sunshine in sweet summer showers
As colours in the sweetest flowers
But love's not without shadows born
Nor roses bloom without a thorn
And love carressing or derided
The flower and leaf is undivided
Love cannot part or death desever
The heart truth keeps in love for ever
Nature cherisheth the flower
And keeps it in a wavering hour
To bloom perrennial—no decay
Can ever fade the flower away
Till earth becomes like heaven above
The paradise of heaven like love—

501

LOVES STORY

1

I do not love thee
So I'll not deceive thee
I do not love thee
Yet I'm lothe to leave thee

2

I do not love thee
Yet joys very essence
Comes with thy footstep
Is complete in thy presence

3

I do not love thee
Yet when gone I sigh
And think about thee
'Till the stars all die

4

I do not love thee
Yet thy black bright eyes
Bring to my hearts soul
Heaven and paradise

5

I do not love thee
Yet thy handsome ways
Bring me in absence
Almost hopeless days

502

Sweet Mary dear Mary how handsome art thou
Thy eyes are as bright as the sun in the stream
The hedge roses blushes are warm on thy brow
And you haunt me for ever like a beautiful dream
Sweet Mary dear Mary I wander away
Both morning and evening to think upon thee
Where whiter than snow are the bushes of may
And them I compare to thy beauty and thee

4

The rose is thy face and the daisey thy bosom
And its pin head of gold is the brooch on thy breast

505

I could kiss them and court them till evening dews clos'd them
As the bright crimson sun dies away in the west
Then I wander home lonely and love but thee only
For thou'rt in every dew drop and wild flower I see
'Tis a week come next monday, since I wander'd out with thee
Still Mary dear Mary you'r dearest to me

[I love thee nature with a boundless love]

1

I love thee nature with a boundless love
The calm of earth, the storms of roaring woods
The winds breathe happiness where e'er I rove
Theres lifes own music in the swelling floods
My harp is in the thunder melting clouds
The snow capt mountain, and the rolling sea
And hear ye not the voice where darkness shrouds
The heavens,—there lives happiness for me

2

Death breathes its pleasures when it speaks of him
My pulse beats calmer while its lightnings play
My eye with earths delusions waxing dim
Clears with the brightness of eternal day
The elements crash round me—it is he
And do I hear his voice and never start
From Eve's posterity I stand quite free
Nor feel her curses rankle round my heart

506

3

Love is not here—hope is—and in his voice
The rolling thunder and the roaring sea
My pulse they leap and with the hills rejoice
Then strife and turmoil is a peace to me
No matter where lifes ocean leads me on
For nature is my mother and I rest
When tempests trouble and the sun is gone
Like to a weary child upon her breast—

SPRING

1

Here are violets Jessy for thy sleep
Blue with the gales of Spring
In dews of morn they only weep
To thee they'll bloom and sing

2

Sing of green fields and freedom too
When thou and I together
Walked down the wood sides were they grew
In springs first happy weather

3

When hawthorns they were flushed in green
And hazels hung their trails
When sallows shone in golden sheen
And scented morning gales

507

4

When flowers fell down before the sun
To rise on blossoms new
And I a school boy used to run
To pluck them love for you

5

Nor have I seen them grow more sweet
Than in my native dells
Where still my troubled visions meet
And dearest mem'ry dwells

6

For there my wandering fancy goes
In pastoral love to rest
And when the wind of summer blows
Where can I happier rest

7

For still my Jessy still for thee
Just as those flowers were shaded
By natures woods—my love shall be
When every flower has faded

508

MARY

1

Mary my wife the summer is come
And mellow the note of the summer bees hum
And the green fields my Mary are pleasant to see
Where I in the summer went walking with thee
Still Mary my wife you may bloom as a flower
And summer bring to you as pleasant an hour
As it did when we rambled along the old lea
Yet Mary my wife no more may I see—

2

I would wander all summer, and look for wild flowers
For the summer's the same and as warm are the hours
As green are the bushes, and dark the oak tree
As they were my own Mary when I wandered with thee
When I see a wild flower or a bright bit of sky
Sweet Mary my wife then ever seems nigh
But when I look back the sweet vision is past
And all my bright fancies have fled with the blast

[Mary on the footpath ramble]

1

Mary on the footpath ramble
And enjoy the sunday morn
O'er the pasture hung wi' bramble
And the ploughed grounds green with corn
Where the lark is just a rising
From its nest among the grain

509

And all other cares despising
Sings its happy songs again
While years alas! now intervene
Since we wandered o'er the green

2

Then I sought the ground-larks nest
And its eggs I showed to thee
Pluck't the wild flower for thy breast
And the burdock from thy knee
That clung unto thy sunday gown
As through the cover we did go
Where the monument looks down
On the golden gorse below
And shows its bright and golden flowers
Like sunshine in sweet summer hours—

3

We passed the thicket then again
Took the wicket to the road
Where we my love did entertain
Ourselves with beauties all abroad
The wild flower and the meadow bee
Such as My Mary never stings
The butterfly, o'er land and lea
For Mary would not stretch its wings
She'd hurt not snail, nor kill a fly
But love all life beneath the sky

4

The clouds were high and light as wool
Some like feathers in a heap
The awthorn shadows sweet and cool
Hung o'er the spot where rest the sheep
Here we formed plans for future joy
And framed our path of life
Here we watched the hours go by
And first I called you wife
But wife, and home, and children dear
Are lost to me while I am here

510

THE FOREST FLOWER

1

There's a flower in the wilderness blooming unknown
Though thousands are near it, it blossoms alone
The trees and the bushes hide it from view
And the paths disappear ere they come where it grew

2

Though left to itself 'tis a beautiful flower
Enjoying the dews and the drops of the shower
Yet solitude petrifies love into stone
And the forest flower's healthy hour blossoms alone

3

But go when the summer is gone from the wood
In vain do we look for the place where it stood
'Tis gone like a thought from the heat of the brain
And none may be like it to blossom again

[How hot the sun rushes]

1

How hot the sun rushes
Like fire in the bushes

511

The wild flowers look sick at the foot of the tree
Birds nests are left lonely
The pewit sings only
And all seems disheartened, and lonely like me

2

Baked earth and burnt furrows
Where the rabbit he burrows
And yet it looks pleasant beneath the green tree
The crows nest look darkly
O'er fallows dried starkly
And the sheep all look restless as nature and me

3

Yet I love a meadow dwelling
Where nature is telling
A tale to the clear stream—its dearest to me
To sit in green shadows
While the herd turns to gadders
And runs from the hums of the fly and the bee

4

This spot is the fairest
The sweetest and rarest
This sweet sombre shade of the bright green tree
Where the morehens flag-nest
On the waters calm breast
Lies near to this sweet spot thats been mother to me

512

MARY

A BALLAD

1

The skylark mounts up with the morn
The vallies are green with the spring
The linnets sit in the whitethorn
To build mossy dwellings and sing
I see the thorn bush getting green
I see the woods dance in the spring
But Mary can never be seen
Though the all cheering spring doth begin

2

I see the grey bark of the oak
Look bright thro' the underwood now
To the plough-plodding horses they yoke
But Mary is not with her cow
The birds almost whistle her name
Say where can my Mary be gone
The spring brightly smiles—and 'tis shame
That she should be absent alone

3

The cowslips are out on the grass
Increasing like crowds at a fair
The river runs smoothly as glass
And the barges float heavily there

513

The milkmaid she sings to her cow
But Mary is not to be seen
Can Nature such absence allow
At milking on pasture and green

4

When Sabbath it comes to the green
The maidens are there in their best
But Mary is not to be seen
Though I walk till the sun's in the west
I fancy still each wood and plain
Where I and my Mary have strayed
When I was a country swain
And she was the happiest maid

5

But woods they are all lonely now
And the wild flowers blow all unseen
The birds sing alone on the bough
Where Mary and I once have been
But for months she now keeps away
And I am a lonely hind
Trees tell me so from day to day
When waving in the wind

6

Birds tell me so upon the bough
That I'm thread bare and old
The very sun looks on me now
A being dead and cold
Once I'd a place where I could rest
And love and quiet be
That quiet place was Mary's breast
And still a hope to me—

514

7

The spring comes brighter by day
And brighter flowers appear
And though she long has kept away
Her name is ever dear
Then leave me still the meadow flowers
Where daffies blaze and shine
Give but the springs young hawthorn bowers
For then sweet Mary's mine

TO MISS B

1

Odd rot it what a shame it is
That love should puzzles grow
That we the one we seek should miss
And change from top to toe
The Gilafers a Gilafer
And nature owns the plan
And strange a thing it is to me
A man cant be a man

2

I traced the woods and mountains brow
And felt as feels a man
Love pleased me then that puzzles now
E'en do the best I can
Nature her same green mantle spread
And boundless is her span
The same bright sun is o'er my head
But I can't be a man

515

3

The turf is green and fair the sky
And nature still divine
And summot lovely fills my eye
Just like this love of mine
And though I love—it may not be
For do the best I can
Mong such disordered company
I cannot be a man

4

Th[r]ough married ties—affections ties
And all the ties of love
I struggled to be just and wise
But just I cannot prove
The Bible says that God is love
I like so wise a plan
But was it ordered from above
That love was [not] wi' man

5

This contradiction puzzles me
And it may puzzle all
Was Adam thus fore doomed to be
Our misery by his fall
Eves fall has been a fall to me
And do the best I can
Woman—I neither love nor see
And cannot be a man

SONG

[Its just upon the eve of May]

1

Its just upon the eve of May
The shooting blade of corn
Are hung with dew at early day
And green's the hedge row thorn

516

But these with me have naught to charm
Though such were all to me
When roaming round the lonely farm
Where Jenny used to be
For there beneath the woods dark brow
I loved and cannot leave her now.

2

Without her life seems all alone
I scarce can bear its noise
My heart feels heavy as a stone
And locks up fancys joys
The sun looks from the happy sky
On fields of wheat and corn
The sky lark meets the light on high
And singing makes the morn
Beside the thorn & woodside bough
I loved and cannot leave her now.

3

We met on such a morn as this
The sun looked on the hill
But years have crept since that and this
And I love Jenny still
The crows had found a snug retreat
Among the sweet green corn
I never found a morn so sweet
Since first loves hopes were born
We loved beneath the white thorn bough
So truly I can't leave her now.

517

SONG

[Tis evening the sky is one broad dim of gray]

1

Tis evening the sky is one broad dim of gray
The hedges look dull as if mourning in green
The wind winnows chill now the sun is away
Yet still there is comfort while viewing the scene
The grass troubles by as if hushing to sleep
And something seems chearing where ever I roam
For here in the core of my heart I can keep
The smileing endearments that blest me at home

2

But love shall be nameless and I will be free
To think of those joys when I wander alone
While the beetle booms by in his night reverie
And the lady bird climbs the tall grass as her own
Sweet dwelling without either neighbour or guest
I envy her ginnet I envy her home
Compared with my home oh how happy her rest
Whilst troubles pursue me where ever I roam

3

No comfort for me lived in palace or hall
But the cottage that stood in a garden of flowers
Where the vine and the woodbine climb'd up by the wall
Twas there that I lived in my happiest hours
Tis there I shall live when the strife is gone by
For the sun that shines there shines on vally & plain
Where green fields and bushes will gladden my eye
And make me contented and happy again

518

JESSEY

1

The spring of life is o'er with me
And love and all gone by
Like broken bough upon yon tree
I'm left to fade and die
Stern ruin seized my home and me
And desolate's my cot.
Ruins of halls—the blasted tree
Are emblems of my lot

2

I liv'd and lov'd—I woo'd and won
Her love was all to me
But blights fell o'er that youthful one
And like a blasted tree
I withered till I all forgot
But Jessys smile on me
She never liv'd were love was not
And I from bonds was free

3

The spring it clothed the fields with pride
When first we met together
And there unknown to all beside
We lov'd in sunny weather
We met where oaks green overhead
And white thorns hung with may
Wild thyme beneath her feet was spread
And Cows in quiet lay

519

4

I thought her face was sweeter far
Than aught I'd seen before
As simple as the cowslips are
Upon the rushy moor
She seem'd the muse of that sweet spot
The Lady of the plain
And all was dull where she was not
Till love met there again

SONG

[How silent comes this gentle wind]

1

How silent comes this gentle wind
And fans the grass and corn
It leaves a thousand thoughts behind
Of happiness forlorn
The memory of my happier days
When I was hale and young
Where still my boyish fancy strays
Corn fields and woods among

2

It fans among the lazy weed[s]
And stirs the wild flowers leaves
Sweet is the playful noise it breeds
While the heart its joys receives
While listening to the gentle sounds
That murmer thro' the grass
And much I love the airy rounds
Of crows that o'er me pass

520

3

And larks that fly above the corn
Frit by a jilted stone
A few yards high at eve or morn
Then drop and hide alone
I love to see the breeze at eve
Go winnowing oer the land
And partridges their dwellings leave
And call on either hand

4

I love the all—that nature loves
The water earth and sky
The greeness of the leafy groves
Brown fallows rising high
The breezes of the early morn
The early evening breeze
The Brown Larks mattin in the corn
The rooks song in the trees

5

I love the haunts of solitude
The coverts of the free
Where man n'er ventures to intrude
And God gives peace to me
Where all I hear and all I see
In peace of freedom roam
Here shall my hearts own dwelling be
And find itself at home

SONG

[The rain is come in misty showers]

1

The rain is come in misty showers
The landscape lies in shrouds

521

Patches of sunshine like to flowers
Fall down between the clouds
And gild the earth else where so cold
With shreds like flowers of purest gold

2

And now it sweeps along the hills
Just like a falling cloud
The cornfields into silence stills
Where musty moisture shrouds
And now a darker cloud sweeps o'er
The rain drops faster than before

3

The cattle graze along the ground
The lark she wets her wings
And chatters as she whirls around
Then to the wet corn sings
And hides upon her twitchey nest
Refreshed with wet & speckled breast

4

And I the calm delight embrace
To walk along the fields
And feel the rain drops in my face
That sweetest pleasure yeilds
They come from heaven and there the free
Sends down his blessings upon me

5

I love to walk in summer showers
When the rain falls gently down
I love to walk a lecture hours
A distance from the Town
To see the drops on bushes hing
And Blackbirds prune a dabbled wing

522

HYMN

[The Lord of life he reigns above]

1

The Lord of life he reigns above
The Lord beneath us lives in joy
The day beams from his face of love
The night dress darkened majesty
The thunder is his mighty voice
The Lightening speaks his awful eye
May we be found his lowly choice
Glad travellers thro the azure sky

2

The rain his bounty ever brings
The wind his health diffuses wide
Throughout all nature King of Kings
Where nothing equal reigns beside
Bright as the ever living sun
His birthless endless living light
From everlasting sources run
Eternity still burning bright

3

The Lord of life prepares for me
This gay green earth this lower sphere
Supports my steps or weak I be
And guides me on from year to year
Lord of my birthright and my home
Lord of the earth the air and sea
Watch thou my footsteps while I roam
My Keeper and protector be

523

SONNET

[How beautiful the white thorn shews its leaves]

How beautiful the white thorn shews its leaves
The first in springs beginnings march or close
Of April and how very green it weaves
The branches in the underwood they burst
More green than grass the common eye receives
Pleasures o'er green white thorn clumps in the wood
So beautifully green it seems at first
It does the eye that gazes on it good
The green enthusaism of young spring
The Blackbird chooses it from all the wood
With moss to build his early nest and sing
Among the leaves the young are snugly nurst
Mornings young dew wets each pinfeathered wing
Before a bunch of May was from its white knobs burst.

[The leaves of Autumn drop by two's and three's]

The leaves of Autumn drop by two's and three's
And the black cloud hung o'er the old low church
Is fixed as is a rock that never stirs
But look again and you may well perceive
The weather cock is in another sky
And the cloud passing leaves the blue behind

524

Crimson & yellow bloch'd with Iron Brown
The Autumn tans and varigates the leaves
The nuts are ripe in woods about the Town
Russet the cleared fields where the bindweed weaves
Round stubbles and still flowers the trefoil seeds
And troubles all the land from rig to furrow
Ther's nothing left but rubbish and foul weeds
I love to see the rabbits snug made burrow
Under the old edge bank or hugh mossed oak
Claspt fast with Ivy there the rabbit breeds
Where the Kite pelews and the Ravens croak
And hares and Rabbits at their leisure feed
So varying Autumn thro her changes runs
Season of sudden storms and brillient suns.

SONG

[A man may mourn a man may sigh]

1

A man may mourn a man may sigh
Left under mans dominion
And here if woman charms his eye
His freedom leaves a pinion
They rob him of his liberty
Each hope of being free
Is taken by an evil eye
That feeds on slavery
O Love is but a Butterfly
Fond of Green fields and the blue sky

525

2

Aye love is fond of liberty
Green vallys and bright flowers
Sings seeking honey with the bee
For all the summer hours
A silent solitary thing
That lives within itself
You only see his azure wing
That flies from pride and pelf
O Love is like a Butterfly
Fond of green fields and purple sky

3

This love's a very tender thing
That withering fades from crime
A singing bee without a sting
A flower in frost and rime
More tender then the simple maid
Who from seduction flies
More fair then flowers that love can braid
The birth of Paradise

SONG

[Sukey's rare and Sukey's fair]

1

Sukey's rare and Sukey's fair
Sukey's got the coal black hair

526

And in her neck the curl'd drakes tail
That makes her looks so very fine
And in her breast this heart of mine
That keeps me like a thief in jail
Which is so very fair and white
It keeps me waken half the night

2

Sukey's neat, and Sukey's sweet
Sukey's every way complete
Like a lily in the shower
Rich as kingcup in the spring
The colour of the bridal ring
Queen of blossom of the bower
Bespangled with the morning dew
And paved with clumps of violets blue

3

Sukey's young, and Sukey's song
The market hill with music rung
And Sukey's ballad there
Her neck was white her cheek was red
Just like the sun a going bed
And coal black was her hair
A bulfinch on a blackthorn tree
Warnt half so beautiful as she

4

The crowds among, I heard it sung
The market with the ballad rung
The fiddle played so sweet
And Sukey tall stood near the wall
And heard the fiddle song and all
And I could some repeat
About her waist, her lips, and eyes
More rich than flowers or butterflies

527

5

Sukey's rare and Sukey's fair
Sukey's blythe and debonair
Love lives in every place
White as lilies and as sweet
Small white hands, and smaller feet
And beautiful her face
As roseys in the morning dew
As violets in their veils of blue

6

Sukey's rare, and Sukey's fair
Sukey's got the coal black hair
And in her neck the curled drakes tail
That makes her look so sweet and fine
And in her breast this heart of mine
That keeps me like a thief in jail
That swells so very fair and white
I cannot sleep a wink at night

SONG

[The rushbeds touched the boiling spring]

1

The rushbeds touched the boiling spring
And dipped and bowed and dipped again
The nodding flower would wabbling hing
Till it could scarce get back again

528

How pleasant lay the daisey plain
How twisting sweet the woodbine grew
Around the white thorn in the lane
Bedecked with gems of droppled dew—

2

Here Bloomfield lay beside the brook
His memory haunts the silver flood
Musing upon the open book
In happy and poetic mood
His fancies left on every place
The landscape seems his waking dream
Where Hannah shewed her rosey face
‘And leap't across the infant stream’

3

The rush tufts touched the boiling sand
Then wabbling nodded up anew
Then danced at every winds command
And dipped to peirce the water through
The twisted woodbine was in flower
And pale among the thorn leaves grew
Here Bloomfield rested many an hour
While bees they sipped the morning dew

4

The little spring it boiled away
And dancing rose the silver sand
For ever boiling night and day
And never made an idle stand
The wild flower nodded on the brink
And made its wrinkles on the stream
Where Bloomfield often lay to think
And listless spend his summer dream

3

So come my dear Emma lets walk in the fields
The fields of November a pleasant walk yields
There's the roost robbing reynard and the hounds in full cry
The still sweeing crows—pigeon flocks sewing by
The mellow brown fields—and the leaf littered brook
How sweet to the fancy of Emma they'll look
So come dearest Emma we'll up and away
A ramble in Autumn's as sweet as in May—

536

SONG

[Sweeter than the blossomed beans]

1

Sweeter than the blossomed beans
Where the bind weed, bell-flower leans
Than beauty in her teens
Is love
Than roses on the briar
I' the summer o' the year
By the waters running clear
Sweeter is love
She's the first flower all the year
The maid I love

2

The black upon the bean
The streak in bell-flowers Seen
Is the eye and neck I wean
Of Love
The blush upon the rose
In her bonny ripe cheek glows—
Than any flower that blows
Sweeter is love
Less rich the ruby glows
Than her I love

3

She's a living lily flower
A rose tree in a shower
A fond perenial flower
Is love

537

No death affects its flower
No mildew blights its bower
Than Edens sun or shower
Sweeter is love
Heavens first eternal hour
Is her I love

SONG

[Theres the wide spreading heath and its crowds of furze bushes]

1

Theres the wide spreading heath and its crowds of furze bushes
The apple-top't oak, and the crippled thorn tree
And the small bending valley o'erspread with bowed rushes,
That wave to the wind—and the song of the bee
Singing round summer wild flowers
In all sunny mild hours
In freedom and glee
While the low wharping camp among the green bushes
Forms a warm cozey nest for Maria and me

2

The beautiful gipsey with brown swarthy cheek
And a bosom of snow melting under her gown
If you travelled the country round for a week
You'd find none so handsome in village or town

538

As lovely Maria
And my eyes never tire
Beneath the green tree
To gaze on her arms and her sunny tanned cheek
While we sit in the camp sweet Maria and me

3

The wheatear it sits on the thorn in the breakan
The furze linet sits on the apple top't oak
And the fire-tail weets there as its nest had been taken
And the cuckoo sings plain as if somebody spoke
While lovely Maria
By the crackling fire
Unlinks her dark hair
That falls o'er her shoulders a thunder cloud making
And covers her neck so lovely and fair

SONG

[O haud yer tongues ye sylvan elves]

1

O haud yer tongues ye sylvan elves
Yer gladness is but waes
And keep yer sangs within yer selves,
For may be better days
Another birdie sings to me
Mak's ither music vain
And fills my heart wi' sorrows glee
Till pleasure springs frae pain
Sae haud yer tongues ye sylvan elves
And keep yer singing to yer selves

539

2

I wish I lived in upper skies
Beyond the golden starn
Angels wi' mercy in their eyes
My secret thoughts might learn
O' for the luv of those bright een
When you war sorrows ain
Makes my e'en sick o' places green
My heart cauld as a stane
Sae haud yer tongues ye sylvan elves
And keep yer singing to yer selves

3

O Susie, Susie, why sae coy
When I am by yer side
Ye never luik ane kind reply
My simple love to guide
Sae haud yer tongues ye saucy elves
I've ither sangs to hear
And keep yer singing to yer silves
While Susie's musing here
O Susie Susie let me see
Thy ain hearts simple melodie

SONG

[Honey dew falls from the tree]

1

Honey dew falls from the tree
Where my Julia walks with me
With her white arm held in mine
Luscious smells the eglantine

540

In blushes sleeps the rosey briar
Lit with tiney sparks of fire
As the red-hot sun goes down
Like a ball to fire the town.

2

Glow-worms fire the dark green grass
Where my Julia's small feet pass
And the king-cups rimmed wi' dew
Gold and white and pearly blue
Tap her on her evening track
Sandal shoes with ribbons black
And woodbines with a crimson streak
Nod again her bonnet peak.

3

The pearly west glowed golden charms
While I held Julia in my arms
Sweet Julia with the eye of dew
The heath bell has'n't one so blue
Her neck the lily of the vale
Is not so fair and sweetly pale
Her cheek, the rose crop't in the dew
Is not so blushing in its hue.

4

I kissed her, yes I kissed her twice
While the little whistling mice
From the hedge ran in and out
And bounced the silver dews about
I leaned upon my Julia's cheek
And could have rested there a week
But we returned to our repose
Just as the full round moon arose.

541

EVENING

How beautiful the eve comes in
The grazing kine the village din
Of happy children, cocks and hens
And chickens cheeping in their pens
And hogs that grunt the roots to eat
And dogs asleep on their fore-feet
And sparrows on the mossy thatch
Waiting whatever they may catch
Beneath the oak the old cart shed
There the capon goes to bed
On the old crippled waggon-see
Propped up with an axle-tree
By the wall on broken rail
Tweets red breasted firetail
And their neighbours pied flycatch
Build cobweb nest in the old thatch
Where beesom weed—that high wind leaves
Blossoms and blooms above the eaves
The old cow-crib is mossed and green
As if it just had painted been
The ramping kecks in orchard gaps
Shake like green neighbours in white caps
On which the snail will climb and dwell
For three weeks in its painted shell
There the white nosed ‘clock a clay’
Red and black spot[t]ed sits all day
Round which the white nosed bee will hum
To which the black nosed bee will come
More than a hundred times a day
Till evening shadows cool in grey
Wormwood, burdock—the cart conceals
Rotting and wanting both the wheels

542

The battered waggon wanting three
Stands prop't with broken axle-tree
A hen pen with two slats away
And hen and chickens gone astray
A barrow left without a wheel
Since spring, which nettles now conceal
From free stones getting on the moor
The creeping donkeys pass the door
The geese on dunghills clean their quills
And squabble o'er the dainty pills
Thrown out by the huswifes cares
Who supper for her man prepares
Labour returning from its toils
Ditcher that the earth besoils
Hedgers from the wattled thorn
Scaring birdboy with his horn
Who blows it to the wandering moon
And thinks the village knows the tune
The shepherd in the nearly dark
Followed by his dogs gruff bark
The milkmaid tripping through the dew
Singing all the evening through
The owlet through the barn hole peeps
And all the village hides and sleeps.

PRAYER IN THE DESERT

1

Almighty, omnipotent—dweller on high
Protector of earth and its dwellers—thine eye
Can look on this desert and bid it appear
As green as fresh pastures at spring of the year

543

And bid the earth's fatness bring food at command
And refill the cruise that is dry as the sand
Almighty omnipotent—dweller in bliss
Thy will has the power—and thy power can do this

2

Our food is exhausted—the cruises are dry
But thou art almighty—thy power can supply
Abundant for few—and sufficient for all
Alli our father let charity fall
While earth is our mother leave nature our friend
And this bare arid desert abundance shall send
This desert of sand shall produce from thine eye
Of food and of water sufficient supply

3

Thou God of Mahomet thou father of all
Near hell and destruction on Alla we call
We bow to the sand in our faith not in fear
For God in the word of his prophet is here
We pray in the faith of Mahomet and trace
The desert of sand as thy own dwelling place
Almighty omnipotent hear us, and send
Supply to our wants, and our prophet defend

[In April all the lanes and woods are full of]

In April all the lanes and woods are full of
Primroses violets and wood anemonies
Theres many a bunch or branch of may they pull off
Littered on roads, in lanes, by woods, where many has
Broke off as first in leaf—and sweet as any is

544

Violet, and primrose gathered and thrown down
To fade where they were plucked—this rush swamp rather fenny is
Yet smell smock show their lilac up and down
And mosses green as grass among the brown.

SONG

[Though years may part my love from me]

1

Though years may part my love from me
My heart shall true & faithful be,
Though seas again between us roll
My heart's the needle to the pole,

2

Still pointing true to thee & home;
Whenever I may stay or roam
The love long true I had for thee
Like suns that never set shall be.

3

Memory of thee shall still prevail,
Thy voice shall cheer the morning gale
And should I cross the blue sea wave,
And should I fill a foreign grave,

4

Thy early smiles, & face so fair
The memory's dreams shall bless me there,
Smile in each wave around me spread
And bloom upon my lowly bed—

545

5

If there it be my lot to sleep
Thy spirit in the dews shall weep
And in the evening wind shall sigh
And bless me where I lowly lie.

SONG

[Where the ash tree weaves]

1

Where the ash tree weaves
Shadows over the river
And the willow's grey leaves
Shake and quiver—
Meet me & talk, love,
Down the grass-hoppers baulk, love,
And then love for ever—

2

There meet me, & talk, love,
Of love's inward feelings
Where the clouds look like chalk, love,
And the huts & the shielings
Lie like love o'er the river
Here talk of love's feelings,
And love on for ever—

3

Where the bee hums his ballads
By the river so near it,
Round docks & wild salads
While all love to hear it,

546

We'll meet by the river,
And by old willow pollards
Bid love live for ever.

Janry 13th 1848.

SANG

[There is a land, I ken it weel]

1

There is a land, I ken it weel
Whose mountains touch the clouds,
Where pine-woods in the tempests reel
And eagles scream aloud;
A land of which a' hearts are proud,
That to that mountain neuk belang,
That land o' mist, & storm, & cloud,
Is dearest to my sang—

2

It is the native's dearest hame
On every foreign strand,
He sees it there in heart the same,
His ain, his native land;
Where the fir trees frowning stand
O'er the huge rocks black & strang,
Where the Bruce aince gave command
That's the burden of his sang—

3

T'is the heart o' every Scot
When he leaves his ain hearth stane,
His eye can see it not,
But tis in heart his ain;

547

He sees the hill & plain
Where he herded a' day lang,
When Scotland was his ain,
And the fire-side heard his sang—

SONG

[The autumns come again]

The autumns come again
& the clouds descend in rain
& the leaves they are falling from the wood
The summer's voice is still
Save the clacking of the mill
& the lowly muttered thunder of the flood

There's nothing in the mead
But the rivers muddy speed
& the willow leaves all littered by its side
Sweet voices all are still
In the vale & on the hill
& the summer's blooms are withered in their pride

548

Fled is the cuckoo's note
To countries far remote
& the nightingale is vanished from the wood
If you search the Lordship round
There is not a blossom found
& where the haycock scented is the flood

My true loves fled away
Since we walked in cocks of hay
On the sabbath in the summer of the year
& she's nowhere to be seen
On the meadow or the green
But she's coming when the happy spring is near

When the birds begin to sing
& the flowers begin to spring
& the cowslips in the meadows reappear
When the woodland oaks are seen
In their monarchy of green
Then Mary & loves pleasure will be here

SONG

[I would not think thee half so fair]

1

I would not think thee half so fair
Had I not known that thou excelled
The fairest that were blooming there
If not the sweetest I beheld
T'was so & more than so to me
For none could smile so sweet as thee—

549

2

Calm Sunday noons, & moonlight eves
How beautiful they made thee seem—
The poet such a vision weaves
As thou wert—seen in angel dreams,
A maiden soon to be a bride
With nought so beautiful beside—

3

We find a flower upon our walk
In places where we thought none grew
I saw thy smiles & heard thee talk
I thought none there as sweet as you
T'was so when last we met—the while—
Could absence e'er forget that smile—

4

I could'nt—and I loved thee more
When late in hidden thought I met thee
Than e'er I seemed to do before
—I saw, where I could not forget thee
When moonlight walks their views unfurled
And left thee fairest in the world

5

The best, the fairest & the dearest—
The moon looked silent o'er our love
The only witness and the nearest
To thoughts as angels are above
I thought of thee & only thee
And felt that such was thine for me—

6

The moonlight walk—the rustic stile
Where she was richly seated
Her fine grey eyes owned every smile
Wi' which true love was treated
T'was heaven there & so t'will be
The next time that I meet wi' thee—

550

THE SOLDIERS GRAVE

1

No matter how the strife begins
Soldiers who fall the battle wins
Left dead beside his thundering gun
That corpse the battle field has won
Though on the turf he ends his days
It blossoms with his countrys praise
In fireside hopes and infants smiles
He fell and fame rewards his toils

2

The stars of earth white daisies shade
The greensward where his bones are laid
Above his bones his blood was spilt
His sword rusts broken to the hilt
His gun his bretheren wheeled away
Belched fire and thunder in the fray
Beneath the turf his ashes rest
By every patriots wishes blest

3

His love was to his country true
His fate is wept by mornings dew
And though his hopes were warm in vain
To see his childrens smiles again
That by the door still sit and play
While he lies rotting in the clay
The mother o'er the youngest sighs
And crops the daisey where he lies

551

4

Upon his cold and stubborn breast
The speckled lark has built her nest
The hare makes there her hiding form
Just where the heart-blood trickled warm
And stained the daisies round the place
Where he fell dead and left no trace
Yet there he fell and there he sleeps
Where wild thyme every morning weeps

THE SPIRIT OF LOVE

1

The spirit of Love is a beautiful thing
As ever o'er flowers and fair bosoms took wing
As ever broke silence through innocent lips
More sweet than the nectar the butterfly sips
From the breath of the rose tree sprinkled with dew
O Love is as sweet and as innocent too
The spirit of Love is an innocent thing
As ever o'er flowers and fair bosoms took wing

2

Not a sigh e'er escapes it to shew to the eye
Of her he adores that a lover is nigh
His eye thinks a language—and turns on her dress
What no tongue has spoken, no wisper can guess.
The language of love is as still as the grave
Its hopes are the sweetest that life ever gave
The spirit of Love is an innocent thing
As ever o'er flowers and fair bosoms took wing

552

3

Its fancies are sweet as the blossoms of spring
Its thoughts are as rich as the songs seraphs sing
Its love is the apple the ball of the eye
Who's light is loves language—a silent reply
The eve when we courted—the field where we met
Like the fire of the soul warms the fond bosom yet
O the spirit of Love is an innocent thing
As ever o'er flowers and fair bosoms took wing

SONG

[At closing day and early morn]

1

At closing day and early morn
Among green woods and rushes
I loved her in youths early dawn
Beneath the white thorn bushes
When white may hid their green gloss leaves.
O'er violet banks all sweetness
When like green leaves her bosom heaves
All happy thoughts and neetness—

2

She lived along the way side
'Mong briars and brambles many
The dust ne'er soiled her bonny pride
Her face was first of any
The sweetest bloom amid the brown
The rose hue young and shy
I loved her when the sun went down
At milking of the kye

553

3

I loved her all the summer long
And when it went away
Her cheek so fair—her years so young
My love was bound to stay
How pleasantly the path way seemed
That went her dwelling by
The setting sun how bright it gleamed
At milking of the kye

4

The docks and thistles by the door
Begemmed by summer showers
Henbane ne'er looked so bright before
All might be reckoned flowers
The very sparrows sung a song
How rich the bright blue sky
I loved her all the summer long
At milking of the kye

5

The swallows almost touched the road
So low they dart in may
The mallow flowers fanned all abroad
The gnats were whewed away
O pleasantly the sun got up
And wandered o'er the sky
When for sweet cowslips I would stoop
At milking of the kye

6

How pleasantly the sun went down
Behind the cots and dairies
The cobwebs o'er the bents of down
Seemed muslin gowns for fairies
What pleasure glowed on every thing
Left green beneath the sky
The jenny-wren would sweetly sing
At milking of the kye

554

SONG

[Scenes of love and days of pleasure]

1

Scenes of love and days of pleasure
I must leave them all lassie
Scenes of love and hours of leisure
All are gone for aye lassie
No more thy velvet bordered dress
My fond and longing een shall bless
Thou lily in a wilderness
And who shall love thee then lassie
Long I've watched thy look so tender
Often clasped thy waist so slender
Heaven in thy love defend her
When I'm o'er the sea lassie

2

By the falls of proud Niagara
Soon I'll hear the roar lassie
Then I'll think of bonny Mary
On a foreign shore lassie
Where the dog star burns and broils
And the chasms chaldron boils
Whose spray the very heaven assails
There I'm going to bide lassie

3

By all the faith I've shown afore thee
I'll sware by more than that lassie
By heaven and earth I'll still adore thee
Though we should part for aye lassie
By thy infant years so [loving]
By thy womans love so moving
That white breast thy goodness proving

555

I'm thine through aye and all lassie
By the sun that shines for ever
By loves light and its own giver
That loveth truth and erreth never
I'm thine for aye and all lassie

SONG Milking o' the Kye

1

Young Jenny wakens at the dawn
Fresh as carnations newly blawn
And o'er the pasture every morn
Goes milking o' the kye,
She sings her songs o' happy glee
While round her swirls the angry bee
The butterfly from tree to tree
Goes gaily flirting bye

2

Young Jenny was a bonny thing
As ever wakened in the spring
And blythe she to herself could sing
At milking o' the kye
She loved to hear the old crows croak
Upon the ash tree and the oak
And noisy pies that almost spoke
At milking o' the kye

556

3

As sweet as may upon the thorn
As sweet as blue caps i' the corn
Red as corn poppies newly blawn
Was Jenny with the kye
Her cap was white, its ribbons blue
Her gown was drab her heart was true
Her apron whity brown and blue
At milking o' the kye

4

She crop't the wild thyme every night
Scenting so sweet the dewy light
And hid it in her breast so white
At milking o' the kye
I met and clasped her in my arms
The finest flower on twenty farms
Her snow white breast my fancy warms
At milking o' the kye

RECOLECTIONS OF HOME

1

When we stray far away from the old pleasant village
We love it the fonder the further away
The sweet pleasant songs of ploughmen oer their tillage
Are more pleasant sounds than the strange calls to day
That sweet little homestead with pollard ash and pond
Leads back a hundred miles wherever I may roam
A dove cotes wooden home where the pigeons coo so fond
Soon brings to my eye my own at the old house at home

557

2

The very layer of crab that's wattled in the hedge
The old post in its red paint crushed with waggons rushing through
The teazles prickly burrs or the little hubs of sedge
Will bring me to the old place where I lived a moon ago
But the flowers here they tell me in their brown, red, white & blue
That their sisters are now in the fields around my house at home
Though the sun here shines as bright, and as christal be the dew
They are not so sweet as those flowers that in our meadows grew

3

A mossy plank across the flood though weedy be the dyke
Here fifty miles away and I cross another stream
It brings me to my own fields the brigs so very like
So here I only wander in the middle of a dream
At home I did right cozie and lived as I would choose
And saw nothing but my sweet fields day after day
'Till I was forced to flee my corner and the muse
As the linnet from its nest by the awk is drove away

4

4

The nettles yellow roots are bare
Where sun shine looks about
Where thin and pricked the hedges are
The leaves are sprouting out

561

5

The violets blossom where they dwell
The childrens fingers smart
They kiss the place to make it well
And all is joy of heart

6

There's something yet in childhoods ways
On which I love to dwell
And oft I hunt in springs first days
The painted pooty shell

7

Children e're they go to school
Hunt hedges and thorn roots
They're badgers by the sedgy pool
And b[u]y the [painted poots]

8

And then they crush them nib to nib
Agen the meadow brig
And don't their little tongues run glib
At running such a rig

9

They call them cocks and so they fight
A little ‘cocking day’
The hardest breaks the whole outright
As heroe of the day

562

STANZAS—

[I would not pull a weed away]

1

I would not pull a weed away
Where she stooped down to see
I would not pull a branch of may
Where she admired the tree

2

Like any child her quiet mind
Had love for every thing
The dangerous of the reptile kind
She never feared a sting

3

Upon a worm I would not tread
Nor even crush the snake
For she would stroke its spotted head
And leave it in the brake

4

I would not wrong the meanest thing
That she had deign'd to touch
To every flower my eyes would cling
I loved her smiles so much

5

I had love for all she looked upon
And love for all she did
The roads looked love where she had gone
As stranger paths ne'er did

563

6

The valley where I saw her gown
Floating in the wind
A shower of may-bloom snowing down
Is pictured on my mind

7

I saw her by the river sedge
In green gown floating gay
The may bloom winnowed from the hedge
And whitened all the way

HYMN TO THE CREATOR

1

Almighty creator and ruler as well
Of the earth and the heaven and darkness and hell
We adore thee—and worship as simple as when
Adam knelt in the garden the first of all men
The God of that sun that yet brings the broad day
When Eve the first flower in the first garden lay
That mercy that yet ever falls from the sky
Says that the meanest of beings never shall die

2

Almighty creator of all we behold
The mountains bare rock and the meadows all gold
The wilderness old and the desert of sand
Are his in his glory and wild barren land

564

To cheer and to cherish in wonder and love
The earth well as heaven, his dwellings above
Almighty creator to seek and to save
We need from the cradle thy help to the grave

3

We need thee and fear thee so ought we to fear
When thou hast no mercy none other will hear
And mercy thou shewest every day to our land
In keeping us all as the work of thy hand
In helping the feeble in seeking the lost
For man neither springs from a pillar or post
But breath[e]s from his father eternally yet
His hell or his heaven in mercy is met

4

Almighty creator of heaven and earth
Creations protector its life and its birth
In thee all began and in thee all have end
Our father at first and at last the one friend
We love and adore thee or ought so to do
From the sunrise of morning to evenings bright dew
Through morning and evening and blackest midnight
Thou'rt our faith in nights darkness and love in morns light

SONG

[My Peggy's a young thing my Peggy's a gay thing]

1

My Peggy's a young thing my Peggy's a gay thing
As straight and as tall as a poplar tree
My Peggy's a gay thing my Peggy's a play thing
Where e're you see Peggy you'r sure to see me

565

My Peggy's as fair as a hundred together
My Peggy's as sweet as a sweet briar tree
Content to the one soon found out the other
So content it soon settled young Peggy and me

2

So I crop here full early to put in a posey
And I knew what I loved must fade and soon wither
With blue bell and red pink carnation and rosey
But Peggy was root, leaf and flower all together
From morning to evening we could not be parted
For love from the first to the last made us one
At ev'en so cozey we walked out glad hearted
And then we went church and were no longer one

3

So now we are seen all the day both together
As happy or happier than many gay things
For better for worse the one took the other
And Peggy's a goddess without any wings
So she never flew from me nor wished to be parted
My Peggy was fond as a pigeon of me
She made the plain home we lived in glad hearted
And fed the sweet linnets that sang on the tree

4

My Peggy was handsome my Peggy was tall
As straight and as trim as a poplar tree
As sweet as the woodbine nail'd up to the wall
Haunted all summer long with songs of the bee
My Peggy's a young thing my Peggy's a gay thing
And where you see Peggy you'r sure to see me
For Peggy's my own thing, and Peggy's my plaything
And dear I love Peggy as Peggy loves me

566

SONG The maid in the morning

1

The linnit sat upon its nest
By gales o' morning softly prest
His green wing and his greener breast
Was damp wi' dews o' morning
The dog rose neath the oak tree grew
Blush'd swelling neath a veil o' dew
A pinks nest to its prickles grew
Right early i' the morning

2

The sunshine glittered gold the while
A country maiden clomb the stile
Her straw hat couldn't hide the smile
That blushed like early morning
The lark with feathers all wet through
Looked up above the glassy dew
And to the neighbouring corn field flew
Fanning the gales o' morning

3

In every bush was heard a song
Each green grass blade the whole way long
A silver shining drop there hung
The milky dews o' morning
Where stepping stones strides o'er the brook
The rosy maid I overtook
How ruddy was her healthy look
So early in the morning

567

4

I took her by the well turn'd arm
And led her over field and farm
And kiss'd her o'er her cheek so warm
A rose in early morning
The spiders lace work shone like glass
Tied to flowers and cat tail grass
The dew drops bounced before the lass
Sprinkling the early morning

5

Her dark curls fanned among the gales
The sky lark whistled o'er the vales
I told her loves delightful tales
Among the dews o' morning
She cropt a flower shook off the dew
And on her breast the wild rose grew
She blush'd as fair, as lovely too
The living rose o' morning

A LAMENT I cannot if I would be gay

1

I cannot if I would be gay
Nor love what I adored
Strife stole my feelings all away
Nor e'er a thought restored
I felt a love for many things
That would in raptures fall
Creations light on varied wings
And woman most of all

568

2

I loved them with a Poets love
And loved them as a man
I loved them as the blest above
And will do while I can
I loved them for a better place
Birds woman flowers and grass
And worship on the red rose face
Of every bonny lass

3

My muses they—and Poets too
The sum of every song
I see them in the sun and dew
And all the year long
Angels on earth they are and give
Me feelings thoughts and tears
Fond hopes new feelings still to live
A longer length of years

4

To live and see when strife shall cease
And kindred kindred meet
A land of love of health and peace
In cottage town and street
The winds shall blow and rivers flow
And clouds slow sail above
When earth shall turn to heaven below
And love be lost in love

569

EVENING

1

The sun had gaen down on the mountain sae lofty
And left her bright spots on the hills and the sky
And the dew fa' o' e'en came around me so softly
As still as the wings o' the bee passing by
O come on ye balmy soft shades o' the e'enin
And langer above me remain thou calm sky
O blue gold and crimson like lofty rocks leaning
Seeming ready to fa' from their dwellings so high

2

Ye shades green and siller o' lakes and o' mountains
Soft greensward blebbed o'er with the milk o' nights dew
The bull rushy lake and the mossy fringed fountains
How dearly I love the mild e'enin' so blue
Brushing green broom by the side o' my true love
Whose green twigs are sprinkled wi' pin heads o' dew
The goudspink cheeps sleepy, half asleep cooes the blue dove
Where I went wi' my true love in her neat dress o' blue

3

O she was the rarest the bonniest, fairest
The dearest sincerest and but yet a young thing
O she was the prettiest wittiest and sweetest
But she seldom spoke love on our walks i' the spring
The sunset clouds faded in dewy mists braided
We saw not as far as we did when we came
She thought of her bonnet the dews falling on it
So arm in arm I—and my lassie went hame

570

PLEASANT SOUNDS

The rustling of leaves

The rustling of leaves under the feet in woods and under hedges. The crumping of cat-ice and snow down wood rides, narrow lanes and every street causeways. Rustling through a wood, or rather rushing while the wind hallows in the oak tops like thunder. The rustles of birds wings startled from their nests, or flying unseen into the bushes.

The whizzing of larger birds over head in a wood, such as crows, puddocks, buzzards &c.

The trample of roburst wood larks on the brown leaves, and the patter of Squirrels on the green moss. The fall of an acorn on the ground, the pattering of nuts on the hazel branches, ere they fall from ripeness. The flirt of the ground-larks wing from the stubbles, how sweet such pictures on dewy mornings when the dew flashes from its brown feathers.

TO MISS MARY ANN C.

1

There is a land of endless life
Where lovers pass away
And leave these coarser scenes of strife
And unrefined clay
A land of love and pure delight
In never fading flowers
There Mary's love shall take its flight
From this cold world of ours

571

2

Thy beaming eyes shall brighter be
Thy cheeks pure roses glow
Thy person with the clime agree
More white than driven snow
That bosom in itself a soul
Shall be immortal soon
Where each one hides a happy mole
Like burs around the moon

3

Thyself shall be the angel there
Mid scenes for ever green
In flowers for ever bright and fair
Shall Mary live serene
I'll kiss the mole on either breast
Where mortals ne'er reprove
And share in my eternal rest
Her everlasting love

TO MARY

1

I wish I had for well I know
Her bonny breast was a' my own
I wish I had explained it so
What now for ever keeps unknown
I saw her bonny breast so white
I saw her bonny face so fair
I saw her beaming eyes so bright
But ne'er said what I likened there
I likened her in love so true
An angel and a woman too

572

2

I saw her smile on inward thoughts
I saw her heart resigned and pure
I saw her face with beauty frought
And felt first loves election sure
I thought of love but nothing said
No wispers from my gazing fell
In my own bosom born and bred
Mary where do I love so well
By evil eyes at close of day
My wild hedge rose was stole away

3

From thee they stole my e'en away
My bonny bride of high degree
Else the wild rose at close of day
My hope and love had used to be
Its dewy leaves of carmine stain
I to thy sweet face would compare
I kissed the cups tween joy and pain
Cause Mary's bosom was not there
I kissed them as truths love and glee
I likened her's as true to me—

4

The moon sleeps calm upon the grass
And shadows flings from bush and tree
Sweet Mary dear my bonny lass,
How much my fancy dwells on thee
I look upon thy breasts so white
And think my love is there enshrined
I kiss them by the pale moon light
And love thee stronger in my mind
Mary I loved through good and ill
And till death parts us love thee still

573

STANZAS To Adelaide

576

2

Truth without deception this
A joy ensured above
God is the author and the bliss
True love

3

Twas matchless Eve in paradise
With beauty from above
That gave to Man without earth's vice
Her love

4

Adah & Zillah next in flower
About their Adam move
They slept beside him in the bower
In love

5

Rachael & Rebecca next
The scripture came to prove
Love was their God the Bible text
Their love

6

Ruth and Nahoma eked the race
Of Adams hopes above
The first man shared their childrens grace
Their love

7

Kessia and Jemima too
Jobs comforts from above
Gives Adams heart like Hermans dew
Their love

577

8

The Bibles race is heavens own
Turks own their God above
And Woman round Mahomets throne
Is love

9

All of mankind are heavens race
From Gods own power above
And woman with Eves mother face
Mans love

SONG

[The spring comes on daily]

1

The spring comes on daily
The wood bank encloses
Its blue violets gaily
And brimstone primroses
Veined Ivy leaves traces
Green moss patches bring
In woods and sweet places
First sight o' the spring
The milk maid each morning in cotton drab Gown
As fresh as a Rose bears her milk to the Town

2

Spring is the happiest
Season of love
The grass is the nappiest
And greenest above
Blue skys are the clearest

578

And heaven more high
Woods and ridings are dearest
When Adelaide's nigh
A cropping new primroses walking along
And hearing with pleasure the milking maids song

3

How bright peep the primroses
How sweet violets smell
In the narrow green closes
And briar tangl'ed dell
The larks o'er the stubble shock
Singing full high
The Guns on the double cock
Watching hares running bye
One starts the Guns crack and wizzes a smoak
It falls and cries ‘auntie’ beneath the lopped oak

SONG

[Sweet is the violet scented pea]

1

Sweet is the violet scented pea
Haunted by red legged sable bee
But sweeter far than all to me
Is her I love so dearly
Than perfumed pea or sable bee
The face I love so dearly

2

Sweet as the hedge row violet blue
Than apple blossoms streaky hue
The black eyed bean flower bleb'd with dew

579

Is her I love so dearly
Than apple flowers or violets blue
The cheeks I love so dearly

3

Than woodbines upon branches thin
The clover flower all sweets within
Which pensive bees do gather in
Three times as sweet or nearly
Is the cheek the lip the eye the chin
Of her I love so dearly

TRUE LOVE

1

The inward tear the silent sigh
The look spoke loud in beauties eye
Strikes like Thor's hammer i' the shock
Though marble bosoms only mock

2

If hidden tears and unheard sighs
Speak nothing—there no heart replies
If signs like these are passed unknown
Then love with two was never known

3

The maid that love in secret keeps
The eye that in the bosom weeps
The cheek that burns up fire to see
Her speak to others though it bee

580

4

Cold sweats that chill the brow of toil
To see her on another smile
Is love that boils through every vein
But owns no voices to explain

5

A hidden mystery of the breast
A heart that sleeps without its rest
A word that's ever on the tongue
And keeps it silent all day long

6

A wish that aches to have its way
Yet keeps it prisoner day by day
A thought for one and one alone
That petrifies the heart to stone

7

Love flashes in the human eye
And beatings of the heart reply
Love tingles in the virgin blood
Of woman in her maidenhood

8

For man those snowy hills do swell
For man those smiles do secrets tell
For man sweet womans love was born
Then who would beauties glances scorn

581

SONG

[Will Jockey cum to day mither]

1

Will Jockey cum to day mither
Will Jockey cum to day
He's taen sic likeings to my brither
He's sure to cum the day
Haud yer tongue lass mind yer rockie
But tither day ye wore a frock aye
What can ye mean to think o' Jocky
Yere bin content the season lang
The best beams in a harmless sang

2

Ye'll soon see falling tears mither
If luv's a sin in youth
He leuks to me and talks wi' brither
But I know the secret truth
He's courted me the year mither
Judge nae the matter queer mither
Ye're a' the while as dear mither
As ye're bin the simmer lang
What use is't singing sangs

3

I'll hear nae farder preaching mither
Ise bin a child ower lang
He led me frae the preaching mither
And wherefore did he wrang
I ken he often tauks wi' brither
I neither leuk at ane or tither
You ken as well as I mither
There's nae luv in a sang
Though I've sang the simmer lang

582

4

Nae dinna be sae saucey lassie
I may be kenned ye ill
If luv has taen the [hold] lassie
There's nae cure i' the pill
Nae I dinna want a pill mither
He luiks at me and tauks to [b]rither
And twice we've bin at kirk the gither
—I'm's well now as a simmer lang
But sumhow canna sing a sang

5

He cums and tauks to brither mither
And luiks his thou[gh]ts at me
He aulas saes gud neet to brither
And luiks geud neet to me
Lassie ye seldom vexed yer mither
Yer ower too fair a flower to wither
So be ye are to cum the gither
Ill be nae damp to yer new claes
Cheer up and sing o'er ‘Loggan braes’

6

Jockey cums o' sabbath days
His face is not the face oer brassy
Her mither sits to praise the claies
Howds him her box to win the lassie
He tak's a pinch and greets wi' granny
And helps his chair up nearer Fanny
And vows he loves her mair than any
She thinks her mither seldom wrang
And ‘Logan braes’ her daily sang

583

THE APRIL WIND AND MILK-MAID

1

Soft blows the April wind my love
Over the green silk grass
Heaves in the leafing trees above
And fans the milking lass
The ribbons on her bonnet poke
Flutter like startled birds
Plays in her curls, and almost spoke
Like lovers wispered words
She turns around but none is nigh
Save plovers in a cloudy sky

2

How beautiful her drapery swims
As down the path she goes
How lovely shade her well turn'd limbs
Through her wind folding clothes
It bows in every silken flower
And trembles in the grass
At morning and at evening hour
Where goes the Milking lass
It flutters in her folding gown
And sings spring music to the town

3

The April wind is soft and sweet
Flying o'er meadows—kissing flowers
Flirting round maidens slippered feet
Before it drops in sprinkling showers

584

A playful thing the April wind
That dances through the silken grass
And flutters in her gown behind
As singing goes the milking lass
O'er closes green—o'er fallows brown
Then bears her milk-pails to the town

‘THE WILLOW SHADED LANE’

1

‘The willow shaded Lane’
The spots where lovers stray
I long to see those scenes again
In this sweet month of May
I long to take her well turn'd arm
At dewy close of day
And walk the road beside the farm
Along with Susan Grey

2

O Susan Grey I love
Down the willow shaded lane
When the stars look bright above
And the night dews on the grain
When the night dews on the grass
And the red sun goes away
I'll meet thee my bonny lass
And love thee Susan Grey

585

3

When the lark is on her eggs
In the flaggy wheat
Brightly shines the water skeggs
And the hare is on her seat
The stars look bright again
Bright glows the milky way
And down the willow shaded lane
I'll walk wi' Susan Grey

4

Around her bonny breast I'll cling
And gaze upon her face
And muse upon that beautious thing
In that green and lovely place
How beautiful her drapery swims
Beneath the moonlight ray
To her my memory fondly clings
And I love Susan Grey

[Thou maiden Flower o' Scotish land]

1

Thou maiden Flower o' Scotish land
We'll seek the rose the gather
We'll walk the mountain hand in hand
And rest amang the heather
Come hither Scotish maid come hither
The mountain rose bush see
We winna crap sa fair a flower
But leave them blooming on the tree
With thoughts of love as pure as snow
We'll wander where the roses grow

586

2

I truth my dear we love descern
And climb to meet the morning air
Walking amang the crimpled fern
And see the roses bloom sa fair
We'll see them on the mountains rare
But ane apiece we winna pu'
They're white as thy fair bosom now
And pearled and beaded wi' the dew
Scottish lassie let us go
Where the mountain roses grow

3

Come bonny flower o' Scottish land
Wi' hat o' straw and tartan plaid
And here I'll take thy lily hand
And yonder lead the bonny maid
And does thy blushes speak of fear
To seek wi' me the blooming brier
I winna wrang thy angel face
Thou bonny thing sae doubly dear
I winna wrang thy virtue so
While ganging where the roses grow

MISFORTUNE

1

Here's black misfortune hauds me down
And keeps me scant o' Gear
I ever bear her winter frown
And am poor from year to year

587

My pockets pennyless remain
In sunshine and in shades
Muses my requests disdain
Are naught but flirting jades
I'm scant o' grace and scant o' gear
And pennyless for a' the year

2

Misfortune is a flirting jade
Her face a bump o' sin
Of priest-craft-cant she makes a trade
And takes the simple in
She makes the rich oppress the poor
The poor she keeps as slaves
The pulpet stands at hells hot door
She reads them in their graves
I've stood her gab the whole year round
And now I'm all but underground

3

Sae' black misfortune hauds me down
I'm waur than parritch puir
Though five bare shillings make a crown
I pennyless endure
While hypocrites are set to preach
And turn the right to wrong
I'm forced to hear but no beseach
I tell them in a song
No Priestcraft balls down me they cram
I only show them—That I am

588

CONTENTMENT

1

The rocks and sholes of life
Im ever fain to shun
The incubus of strife
Leaves me undone
The poor mans cares are never o'er
The rich man owns his coach and four

2

But give me the humble cot
And patience to endure
Contented wi' my humble lot
And I'll not ask for more
The poor man at his supper sits
By green wood fire that burns by fits

3

Give me the poor mans fare
His cot like clean pig stye
And I'll be happy there
In corner warm and dry
And sup and smoke short pipe at ease
And thank God for my bread and cheese

4

Give me the poor mans lot
His toil in woods to hack
A corner in his cot
With a garden at the back
Where Bears-breach powdered flowers
Amuse his leisure hours

589

5

A string pulls up the latch
There's his flagging bottom chair
And the martin neath the thatch
Hangs her mortar dwelling there
Give me a cottage to my mind
And I a peaceful home shall find

[Will ye gang wi' me to Scotland dear]

1

Will ye gang wi' me to Scotland dear
Where the mountains touch the sky
And leave your humdrum labours here
And climb the hills sa'e high
Come leave your fowl your pigs and kye
And your mud-floor dwelling here
Come put your wheel and knitting bye
We'll be off to Scotland dear
For the summer lark is in the sky

2

The daisys gold in silver rim
Is blazing on the mountain side
And the skylarks wing in the sky grows dim
While the clouds like racers ride
So come with me to Scotland dear
And thy tartan plaid put on
The swallow has come to the new green year
And we'll to Scotland now be gone
So go wi' me to Scotland dear
Ere the winter of lifes comes on

590

And go with me to Scotland dear
And leave your English home
The gowans bloom, and the scented brere
Will tempt your steps to roam
And go with me to Scotland dear
Where the crimpled brackens grow
Where the rose blooms on the mountain brere
As white as driven snow
Then in the green bloom of the year
With me to Scotland go

SPRING WIND

1

The wind blows the trees about
In the green field
The wind blows the bees about
Which bushes shield
'Tis the green wind of May time
That suddenly wakes
That starts in the day time
When every thing shakes
The trees and the bushes, the grasses and grain
Like the waves of the ocean roll over the plain

2

The wind what can beat it
So frolic and playful
The beast cannot eat it
Though it fills all the day full

1

Honey words make charms of blisses
Which fondness keeps together
And these when ripe will melt in kisses
The dews of summer weather
The clouds will lay their heads on earth
To kiss it every morning
When showers of dew pearls have their birth
The woods and fields adorning

2

The busy bee will kiss the flower
As often as he pleases
The butterfly in sunny hour
Will kiss but never teazes
The skylark mounts to kiss the sun
That o'er the green corn glitters
Then like a stone he drops when done
And in the meadow twitters

3

The twilight kisses mornings blush
In coal black night's retreating
And midday breezes kiss the bush
Its pleasant shadows meeting
Grass, corn and leaves in windy days
Are stirred in mighty putther
The flowers are ravished by the bees
The rest kiss one another

4

But Mary fairest of thy kind
No woman ne'er was fairer
Nature's a puzzle to my mind
A flirt I cannot bear her

596

For me and love she only cheats
Days sunshine and eve's dew
She kisses everything she meets
And I've not once kissed you

[There is a charm in Solitude that cheers]

There is a charm in Solitude that cheers
A feeling that the world knows nothing of
A green delight the wounded mind endears
After the hustling world is broken off
Whose whole delight was crime at good to scoff
Green solitude his prison pleasure yields
The bitch fox heeds him not—birds seem to laugh
He lives the Crusoe of his lonely fields
Which dark green oaks his noontide leisure shields

[O the world keeps running round]

1

4

Tricoloured Pansies Lovers fancies
Bright and beautiful ye are
Blue and yellow not your fellow
In the garden looks so fair
Yellow Blue if love be true
‘God is Love’ to prove it is
Cropt with Posies—Pinks and roses
Pretty Maidens crop you this

SONG

[The hurly burly wind]

1

The hurly burly wind
And it whirls the wheat about
While its comeing in the ear
And the barley's on the sprout
It whirls the wheat about me
In its suit of sunny green
And my lassie need not doubt me
She's the sweetest ever seen

605

2

Her hair is of the auburn
And her cheek is of the rose
And my bonny Sarah Ann is
The sweetest flower that grows
Her lips are like the cherry
And her skin is lilly white
Her tongue is ever merry
Her smiles are all delight

3

The hurly-burly wind
And it whirls the wheat about
The billows swab behind
And the headaches scrail without
The bluecaps in the green
Eddie like Butterflies
And nothing still is seen
Where e'er we turn our eyes

4

My love is like the wild scene
Her gown is floating free
And I have like a child been
To seek her company
And I must like a child be
In fancy's to delight
So I walk to see the wild bee
And butterfly till night

606

[When Jenny was here I was seldom alone]

1

When Jenny was here I was seldom alone
Her hand went in mine and her arm on my own
Then her beautiful arm in its green cotton sleave
Was pressed to my side and you cannot beleive
What pleasure I felt—and what pleasure I feel
In thinking on't now though I vainly conceal
My passion pretending I'm talking to flowers
I'm talking to Jane in her innocent hours

2

I loved her when here—in her abscence I love
I'ts warm to my heart as the nest to the dove
At the sunset of even' she'd linger and stay
To see it go down till the night grizzled grey
I think of those kisses when trees left their green
And feel every wisper we uttered unseen
Where I stole the last kiss—here's the white thorn & breer
Though Jenny's long absent the stile is still here

3

I never half told her beneath the green bough
The pleasant love tales as I'm telling of now
I always court better when left to my sell
Sometimes beside her I nothing could tell
I could preach like loves sermon book wandering alone
When the woods look'd so green and I felt her my own
O how I could court her 'neath this setting sun
And succeed all the better than e'er I had done

4

610

SPRING

1

Come gentle Spring and show thy varied greens
In woods and fields and meadows by clear brooks
Come Gentle Spring and bring thy sweetest scenes
Where Peace and solitude the loveliest looks
Where the blue unclouded sky
Spreads the sweetest canopy
And study wiser grows without her books

2

Come hither gentle May and with thee bring
Flowers of all colours and the wild briar rose
Come in wind floating drapery and bring
Fragrance and bloom that natures love bestows
Meadow pinks and columbines
Keksies white and Eglantines
And music of the Bee that seeks the rose

611

3

Come gentle Spring and bring thy choicest looks
Thy bosom graced with flowers thy face with smiles
Come gentle Spring and trace thy wandering brooks
O'er meadow gates and footpath crooked stiles
Come in thy proud and best array
April dews and first of May
And singing birds that come where heaven smiles

CLOCK A CLAY

1

In the cowslips peeps I lye
Hidden from the buzzing fly
While green grass beneath me lies
Pearled wi' dew like fishes eyes
Here I lye a Clock a clay
Waiting for the time o' day

2

The frolicksome wind through the trees and the bushes
Keeps sueing and sobbing and waiving all day
Frighting magpies from trees and from white thorns the thrushes
And waveing the river in wrinkles and spray
The unresting wind is a frolicksome thing
O'er hedges in floods and green fields of the spring

2

It plays in the smoke of the chimney at morn
Curling this way and that i' the morns dewy light
It curls from the twitch heap among the green corn
Like the smoke from the cannon i'th' midst of a fight
But report there is none to create any alarm
From the smoke an old ground full hiding meadow & farm

3

How sweet curls the smoke oer the green o' the field
How majestic it rolls o'er the face o' the grass
And from the low cottage the elm timbers shield
In the calm o' the evening how sweet the curls pass
I' the sunset how sweet to behold the cot smoke
From the low red brick chimney beneath the dark oak

4

How sweet the wind wispers o' midsummers eves
And fans the winged elder leaves o'er the old pales
While the cottage smoke o'er them a bright pillar leaves
Rising up and turns clouds by the strength of the gales

616

O' sweet is the cot neath its colums of smoke
While dewy eve brings home the labouring folk

SONG

[On a bonny April morning]

1

On a bonny April morning
By the grey and green wood side
Where the blue-bells were adorning
There a pretty girl I spied
Her hair was brown and curling
Her eyes were bright and blue
Where the mossy brook was purling
O I loved the maiden true

2

I loved her fond and tender
Aye tenderly and true
So heavens love defend her
A rose half blown i' dew
A blue-bell in the white thorn green
A violet in the shade
The sweetest flower I'd ever seen
Was that all beauteous maid

3

Her face was young and pretty
And sweetly she could sing
And her bright eye drop't pity
At every cruel thing
The place was full of blue bells
Where that pretty girl I spied
A heaven in the green dells
Hid in this world so wide

617

SONG

[On mossy banks the violets blue]

1

On mossy banks the violets blue
Sweet smells in white thorn bushes
All beaded wi' the morning dew
Beneath the nests o' thrushes
I love the sunny sweet spring morn
Wheat lands and grounds of clover
I love the fields of sprouting corn
To look at or walk over
One only care remains with me
To sigh for one I cannot see

2

And when I see a pleasant place
I think how lovely she'd be there
And when I see an angel face
Theres something-nothing nigh so fair
I see the white thorn knot for may
The primrose at its mossy root
I hear green linnets on the sprey
Singing when all the rest are mute
But one I love I cannot see
That in such scenes were all to me

3

On mole hill turf by ivied woods
I love to see the springs may dew
Primrosey brooks their crimpled floods
That far into the woods we view

618

I love to see the half formed nest
The blackbird lining hers wi' grass
The cock-bird with his sooty breast
Singing bye water clear as glass
I love such scenes and there I'm free
To think of one I cannot see

4

In every green and pleasant place
I think of one I may not see
The rosey blooms upon her face
Her eye beams happiness on me
The rushy green the primrose spring
The awthorn hedge the grassy baulk
Where wheatlands in dark places spring
And larks and linnets almost talk
They sing of her I may not see
And there I love their melody

SWEET SPRING

1

The spring it beams sweet on the green linnets wing
The wind ruffles soft on the ring-doves coy breast
And heedless the wild bees on spring blossoms hing
Sweed about by the wind as an unbidden guest
O I love the soft gush of the winds in the spring
And chaffinch in thorn hedges trying to sing

619

2

I love the sweet spring i' the flowers o' the larch
Cones o' purple rich studding the starry leaves green
They got through the storms and the blusters o' March
And mix with the things that are fair to be seen
I love all the buds and the blossoms that Spring
O'er the earth in her leisure is welcome to bring

3

I love the sweet Spring in its comeing at first
Flowering moss on the wall—swelling bud on the bush
I love the sweet flowers when they come one and all
First note of the c[h]affinch, first song of the thrush
I love the first sights o' the Spring as they come
The green o' the grass and the daisey in bloom

4

The sunbeams that close to the hedges approach
Paints the sulphur hued primrose deliciously pale
And pilewort that shines like gold on a broach
And clusters o' violets scenting the gale
I love the first sight o' the Spring's bonny green
Where the lass she goes milking the cows i' the e'en

SONG

[Come we to the Summer, to the Summer we will come]

1

Come we to the Summer, to the Summer we will come
For the woods are full of blue-bells and the hedges full of bloom
And the crow is on the oak a building of her nest
And love is burning diamonds in my true lovers breast

620

She sits beneath the white thorn a plaiting of her hair
And I will to my true love with a fond request repair
I will look upon her face, I will in her beauty rest
And lay my acheing weariness upon her lovely breast.

2

The clock-a-clay is creeping on the open bloom o' May
The merry bee is trampling the pinky threads all day
And the chaffinch it is brooding on its grey mossy nest
In the white thorn bush where I will lean upon my lovers breast
I'll lean upon her breast and I'll wisper in her ear
That I cannot get a wink o' sleep for thinking of my dear
I hunger at my meat and I daily fade away
Like the hedge rose that is broken in the heat of the day.

3

Among the white-thorn bushes at the edge of the green
My Love is doing net work and is lovely to be seen
No cap or bonnet on her hair her comb with pearls inlaid
They shine like diamond drops o' dew upon the lovely maid
Her gown is silk or sattin—its colours red & blue
And her heart beats neath the gloss on't like a pendalum so true
I'll go and clasp a armfull about her bonny breast
And kiss, and ne'er disturb the chaffinch on its nest.

621

MY LOVE

1

My Love is like a pleasant thought
A first flower of the May
My Love she is a charm unbought
Young, beautiful and gay
My Love she is a dream of joy
More living than a dream
A sweetness nothing would destroy
The sunlight i' the stream
My Love is all and more than these
A pleasant thought that's born to please

2

Than summer flowers her face more sweet
Than morning dews her eye more clear
Here hedge-rose and wild woodbines meet
In them I pay her worship here
Wild woodbines streaky hues o' red
Hedge-roses blushing fleshy hue
Carnations glowing in their bed
My Love's as fair and sweet and true
My Love's a thought of more than these
To charm in secret witcheries

3

Sweet pleasant thoughts and happy dreams
My lovers more o' womans kin
She's even sweeter than she seems
And o' her heart is warm within

622

Warm as the smile upon her lip
Warm as the turtle in its nest
As nectar which the wild bees sip
As moles upon her bonny breast
Sweeter than all these visions prove
Is her I worship in first Love

I LOVE THEE

1

I know that I love thee
I feel it all o'er me
If wrong, God reprove me
So much to adore thee
I know not the reason, but only I love thee
Around thee, about thee, below and above me
I know that I love and adore thee and now
The soul of my worship's none other than thou
I feel so and know it
There's none other before thee
These verses they show it
That I love and adore thee

2

Thy skin is the marble
All snowy and white
Thy voice is the warble
Of the song bird of night
I love thee I feel without knowing the reason
Thy blooms like the lily's this beautiful season
Thy face is all beauty thy form I adore
I love thee—no language could ever say more

623

'Tis thee I would walk with
And leave thee O never
'Tis thee I would talk with
And love thee for ever

BALLAD

1

One summer's sunday morning
Just by the break o' day
Dew-drops the grass adorning
Shone on the meadow way
I took my mornings rambles
Right early i' the morn
Down the hedge row hung wi' brambles
And o'er fields o' standing corn

2

And there I saw a bonny lass
A comeing from the town
And tripping o'er the moist green grass
Bedecked in sunday gown
Why in such haste my bonny lass
And early in the day
At yonder town kind sir she said
I'm going to spend the day

3

The bee was on the buttercup
Still clinging fast asleep
The grasshopper awake and up
Was springing in a leap

624

Sweet linnets they were in the bush
The lark was in the cloud
And gently waved the bright bullrush
Where the lock-pens roared aloud

4

She left the path to let me pass
—For reasons just the same
I turned aside among the grass
My face burnt like to shame
The village spire was plainly seen
Some poplar trees behind
The awthorn bush was more then green
That wavered to the wind

5

We went by sheep and grazing stock
And then we crossed the corn
The gilt hands on the old church clock
Was six that sunny morn
I'd gone too far to wander back
By meadow field and grove
Her tongue was loosed to pleasant clack
And mine was still with love

6

From the brown land the sooty crow
Flew up and gave a quark
Magpies from white thorn bush did go
And noised as they would talk.
I stooped down to tie her shoe
And knock her pattens too
'Twas just the pleasant way to woo
What honest love should do

7

She went to see her friends that day
Her mother at the door
Good byed her out o' sight the way
Till we were seen no more

625

She took my arm—I little knew
What in her bright eye shone
We went the way and passed for two
And both returned as one—

SONG

[I went my Sunday mornings rounds]

1

I went my Sunday mornings rounds
One pleasant summer day
And stood i' the green meadow grounds
'Mong cocks and swaths o' hay
Up the green rush the Lady bird
Clomb to its very tops
And there the crickets songs were heard
Like organs without stops

2

The sun was climbing up the sky
A looking glass of gold
It melts and quivers on the eye
And blinds us to behold
Melting and shining to its height
It shines from pole to pole
And sliddering down at dewy night
Goes out a dying coal

3

I stood among the swathes and cocks
How sweet the light did seem
When a sweet lass with inky locks
Came tripping by the stream

626

Sweet one I said I do prefer
To ask you why you walk
'Tis merely for my pleasure sir
As you stand there to talk

4

The wind came from the southern sky
And tokened flying showers
The busy bee and butterfly
Her ribbons took for flowers
The wasp it buzzed about her mouth
Her lips seemed cherries red
The wind shook from the balmy south
The curls about her head

5

Young man she said you'l marry me
And waited for reply
Why yes my dear but do'nt you see
Love is the stronger tie
And then I kissed her lips and cheeks
And made her merry hearted
I wed the maid in just three weeks
From the first day we parted

THE PINK OF OUR TOWN

1

I've seen the summer morning
With its jewels and its gems
The may the thorn adorning
Like snow upon their stems

627

The primrose in the green wood
The violet in the shade
Every sweet wild flower and green bud
But none beats my peerless maid
She's handsomer and fairer
Than flowers of hill and down
My Mary still is rarer
She's the pink of our town

2

Than Mary none's so bonny
Than Mary none's so fair
She's the sweetest face of ony
And beautiful's her hair
Her bosom's like a pillow
Her waist is but a span
She'll never wear the willow
Wi' likeing of a man
No wild flower e're was fairer
Search wood and hill and down
Mary's a flower still rarer
She's the pink of our town

3

O Mary lovely Mary
Since the first hour we met
My rest has been contrary
I cannot thee forget
I'll love thee and forever
We never can be parted
As flows the undrying river
True love is ne'er deserted
Mary's the fairest, sweetest
I've searched the hill and down
Of flowers she is the neetest
And the pink of our town

628

JERUSALEM

1

And is she now fallen
That city of souls
The land with Gods call on
—Like the planet that rolls
The land that God quickened
Is perished and dead
Her people they sickened
Her Alters are fled

2

Her alters are perished
No holy hope gives
While the heathen are cherished
And their baal still lives
Gods chosen scorns fingers
Points low in the dust
A remnant still lingers
In iron and rust

3

The Agag's around them
Have cut them away
And the heathens confine them
To dungeons a prey
The city of David
The land of the Lord
Like heathens depraved
All fell by the sword

629

4

O Lord God Almighty
Our fallen state see
The queen of the city
Is weeping for thee
Thy temple is fallen
Thy city is gone
And the daughters are calling
To thee when alone

5

Our Mothers are widdows
Our alters o'erthrown
And the Agag's forbid us
To put up a stone
Lord heed us and hear us
Though fallen we're men
We'll see Agag fear us
And our temple agen

6

Our prayer never ceases
By day or by night
They're all ‘cut in pieces’
Who question thy might
Our speach shall not falter
On mountain or glen
Lord build thy own alter
Of our city agen

630

[Take back the rose nor let it wither]

1

Take back the rose nor let it wither
On heart so cold as mine
Yet once my love when seen together
Both would have been divine
But since my hopes are crushed & blighted
I've little love for flowers
My love for thee shall be requited
In warmer climes than ours
When hearts shall join and be united
In stronger types than flowers

2

The fairest flower but blooms to wither
The sweetest summers fly
But two fond hearts when joined together
In true love—never die
The rose it is the summers flower
It blooms in Lapland too
And comes to me in sorrows hour
Though given love by you
It comes to me without the power
To feel it or be true

3

I cannot bear to crop a flower
And see it die away
The rose perfumes the summer hour
Too lovely to decay
I'd rather chuse one on the tree
To bloom my summer guest
Than let one fade and die from thee
On my abandoned breast

631

If love this fairy gift may be
This love song speaks the rest

Augst 26th/48

THE MILKMAID

1

The months have nearly traveled round
And wound the bottom of the year
All splashy is the greensward ground
Half full the waggon ruts appear
The maple green to pale gold turns
The hazel leaves blood red
The ring-dove on the odd oak mourns
As if his mate where dead

2

The pretty milkmaid picks her way
O'er fields and closes many a one
Sweet as the hedge rose on the spray
Where all the rest are shook and gone
By the round stack she milks her cows
Beside the broad ash pollard tree
Leaves drop off yellow i' the sloughs
And weary drones the last odd bee

3

Sweet smells the fallen leaves and grass
The fairy rings o' darker hue
Sweet is the song of milking lass
In field and close she wanders through
The green woodpecker swoops and squeaks
From one small hole in the ash tree
Red is the ploughboys chubby cheeks
—Wet stubbles rustle sweet to me

632

4

Red is the milkmaids elbows now
And beautifully turned her arm
Green o'er her head the oak tree bough
Hums the wild winds music charm
The milkmaid is a lovely thing
Close to her bonnet swoop the crows
She loves to see their sooty wing
Their fanning wings at days bright close

5

The magpie broods have saucy tongues
They rag her the two closes through
The blackbird gives her sweeter songs
Hedge sparrows they will charm her too—
With sudden starts along the hedge
Her shoes are sullied o'er with dew
She walks beside the dykes o' sedge
The sweetest rose that ever grew

SONG

[Maiden with that sunny brow]

1

Maiden with that sunny brow
Smile my love and cheer me now
For my heart is left alone
And my life is chilled to stone
Rose tinged cheek and breast of snow
Hear me now before you go
How doatingly I love you

633

2

By the sunbeams shed from high
By the blue ethereal sky
That blesses you where 'e'er you go
And gives those eyes the brightest glow
Ah hear the words I have to say
Spoken on this summers day
I only look to love thee

3

Maiden with that dark brown hair
Cheeks rose tinged and bosom fair
Red lips and nose so acquiline
Dress so neat and shape divine
Hear me as I bless thee so
Hear my vows before I go
How through my life I'll love thee

4

Sweet is the rose tinge steeped in dew
Sweet is the evenings gold and blue
Sweet flies the swallow o'er the plain
Sweet smells the sweetbriar after rain
Let me kiss before you go
That cheek—and bosom like the snow
I'll ever ever love thee

WHAT IS LOVE

1

What is Love but pains disguise
That dares not tell its secret pain
That ever shrinks from hearts replies
And tries to be himself again

634

That shuns the crowd and noises rude
That tries to keep his thoughts unknown
And in the green of Solitude
Keeps loves dear bondage all his own

2

There is but one in all the world
Search earth or ocean clouds or air
With rosey cheek and ringlets curled
That seems to him so passing fair
Grace in her motion—music speaks
When e'er she talks or binds her hair
The fairest rose blooms on her cheeks
Her breasts the whitest lilies wear

3

The Poet is a silent thing
A man in love none knoweth where
He sees her in the boiling spring
At even on the blooming brere
He hears her in the songs of birds
He sees her in the evening sky
A shepherdess among the herds
A milkmaid wi' the grazing kye

6

Love blooms in brightest flowers
Love spreads the greenest bowers
The heaven of lifes hours
Is one true love

GREEN HILLS OF NATURE

1

Green hills of nature again I see
The pilewort returns to the hum of the bee
Again I sit on your verdant swells
And listen to the shake of the cowslip bells

While they laid down their little heads
I'd sleep in blebs o' dew
And hear them talking in their beds
The starry season through
And see them in the morning charm
Stand 'mong the flowers so cool
And take their baskets on their arm
And creep like snails to school

5

O I would be an insect
In woods and thickets lone
An idle thing of solitude
To lewder life unknown
Hid in the bosom of a flower
Its lifetime there to dwell
Eternity would seem an hour
And I'd be resting well

645

SONG Chelmsford Maid

1

'Twas on a summer's morning
I happened for to stray
When the farmers got the corn in
All by the break of day
Down the bonny Che[l]msford meadows
By the river running clear
There I met a modest maiden
In that gay time of the year

2

O bonny was her rosey face
And handsome was her gown
The sweetest girl in any place
The fairest in the town
Her eyes were dark like waters deep
When black clouds pass the sun
And o'er her gown two white hills peep
Like snow when springs begun

3

Her bosom's like a heap of snow
Among springs early flowers
Or lilys that in bunches grow
Among the rosey bowers
O bonny maid of Chelmsford town
Thy beauty is divine
There's many a breast as soft as down
But few so fair as thine

646

4

Her face is as the apple round
And reddens to the sun
When passing bye I see the ground
With heart already won
I passed her on one morn in May
Her eyes were looking down
And then my heart was ta'en away
By that rose of Chelmsford town

JANE W---N

1

Long as bees fly to seek the rose
That blooms upon the briar
As pilewort on the pasture grows
To set the green on fire
So long as may blooms deck the thorn
And cowslips gild the lea
My Jane the fairest maiden born
I'll love and think of thee

2

While in the thorn hedge sparrows build
And lay their eggs of blue
While primrose flowers the green woods gild
I'll love and think of you
The morn dews hang in christal drops
Primrose and blue bell too
We'll make the trembling gems to stop
But a sweeter gem are you

647

3

Let nights be short my bonny Jane
And morning walks be long
The bee bangs at the window pane
And bids thee join his song
Come walk with me and while the bee
Goes singing down the lane
I'll cheat him of a flower for thee
And dearly love my Jane

SONG

[O'er the emerald meads I wandered]

1

O'er the emerald meads I wandered
In the sunny afternoon
Where the rivers flood meandered
And the John-go-to-bed at noon
Shut up among the grass
As the eve was comeing nigh
There I saw a bonny lass
Wi' kindness in her eye

2

I' gown o' buff and spencer black
The maid was neatly dresst
And sweetly went the summer rack
Soft over heavens breast
She went along the meadow grass
Like beauty in a dream
And lightly stepped the happy lass
And gently flowed the stream

648

3

I saw her in my memories eye
An half an hour or more
Yet never saw a tree or sky
Look half so sweet before
The rustling flags and water-birds
And pleasant looking weather
Like pleasant thoughts and wispering words
When lovers talk together

4

They talked to me while standing there
And laughed and giggled too
And warmly gleamed the summer air
The sky was bright and blue
How sweet she o'er the meadow went
Like pleasures i' the mind
And scarcely bowed that horney bent
And scarcely stirred the wind

5

But in my heart and in my breast
A burning spirit came
Her abscence leaves a wild unrest
Just like a sco[r]ching flame
That burns the aching breast
She passt and cometh not again
Who went the meadow way
My brightest fancy looks in vain
E'er since that pleasant day

6

In gown o' buff she passed me bye
Along the meadow way
And lovely was the autumn sky
And pleasant was the day

649

But never can my eye forget
The maids buff coloured gown
The church tower in the trees is set
And that points to the town

CLARE TO HIS WIFE

1

O once I had a true love
As bless't as I could be
Young Patty was my turtle dove
And Patty she loved me
We walked the fields together
By wild roses and woodbine
In summers sunshine weather
And Patty she was mine

2

We stooped to gather primroses
And violets white and blue
In pastures and green closes
All blistered wi' the dew
We sat upon green mole hills
Among the daisey flowers
To hear the small birds merry thrills
And share the sunny hours

650

3

The blackbird on her grassy nest
We would not scare away
Who nuzzling sat wi' scorchy breast
On her eggs for half the day—
The chaffinch cheep'd on the white thorn
And a pretty nest had she
The magpie chattered all the morn
From her nest upon the tree

4

And I would go to Patty's cot
And Patty came to mine
As happy in each others thought
As birds at Valentine
And Patty had a kiss to give
And Patty had a smile
To bid me hope and bid me live
At every stopping stile

5

We loved one summer quite away
And when another came
The cowslip close and sunny day
It found us much the same
We both looked on the self same thing
Till both became as one
The birds did in the hedges sing
And happy time went on

6

The brambles from the hedge advance
In love wi' Patty's eyes
On flowers like lady's at a dance
Flew scores of butterflies
I claimed a kiss at every stile
And had her kind replies
The bees did round the woodbines toil
Where sweet the small wind sighs

651

7

Then my Patty was a young thing
And now she's past her teens
And we've been married many springs
And mixed in many scenes
And I'll be true for Patty's sake
And she'll be true for mine
And I this little ballad make
To be her valentine

Oct. 20th/48

CHILDHOOD

1

O dear to us ever the scenes of our childhood
The green spots we played in the school where we met
The heavy old desk where we thought of the wild-wood
Where we pored o'er the sums which the master had set
I loved the old church-school, both inside and outside
I loved the dear Ash trees and sycamore too
The graves where the Buttercups burning gold outvied
And the spire where pelitory dangled and grew

2

The bees i' the wall that were flying about
The thistles the henbane and mallows all day
And crept in their holes when the sun had gone out
And the butterfly ceased on the blossoms to play
O dear is the round stone upon the green hill
The pinfold hoof printed with oxen—and bare
The old princess-feather tree growing there still
And the swallows and martins wheeling round in the air

652

3

Where the chaff whipping outward lodges round the barn door
And the dunghill cock struts with his hens in the rear
And sings ‘Cockadoodle’ full twenty times oer
And then claps his wings as he'd fly in the air
And there's the old cross with its round about steps
And the weathercock creaking quite round in the wind
And theres the old hedge with its glossy red heps
Where the green-linnets nest I have hurried to find—

4

—To be in time for the school or before the bell rung.
There's the odd martins nest o'er the shoemakers door
On the shoemakers chimney the Old swallows sung
That had built and sung there in the season before
Then we went to seek pooty's among the old furze
On the heaths, in the meadows beside the deep lake
And return'd with torn cloathes all covered wi' burrs
And oh what a row my fond mother would make

5

Then to play boiling kettles just by the yard door
Seeking out for short sticks and a bundle of straw
Bits of pots stand for teacups after sweeping the floor
And the children are placed under school-mistress's awe
There's one set for pussy another for doll
And for butter and bread they'll each nibble an awe
And on a great stone as a table they loll
The finest small teaparty ever you saw

6

The stiles we rode upon ‘all a cock-horse’
The mile a minute swee
On creaking gates—the stools o' moss
What happy seats had we
There's nought can compare to the days of our childhood
The mole-hills like sheep in a pen
Where the clodhopper sings like the bird in the wild wood
All forget us before we are men

Oct. 15th/48

653

[O could I be as I have been]

1

O could I be as I have been
And ne'er can be no more
A harmless thing in meadows green
Or on the wild sea shore

2

O could I be what once I was
In heaths and valleys green
A dweller in the summer grass
Green fields and places green

3

A tennant of the happy fields
By grounds of wheat and beans
By gipsey's camps and milking bield
Where lussious woodbine leans

4

To sit on the deserted plough
Left when the corn was sown
In corn and wild weeds buried now
In quiet peace unknown

5

The harrows resting by the hedge
The roll within the Dyke
Hid in the Ariff and the sedge
Are things I used to like

6

I used to tread through fallow lands
And wade through paths of grain
When wheat ears pattered on the hands
And head-aches left a stain

654

7

I wish I was what I have been
And what I was could be
As when I roved in shadows green
And loved my willow tree

8

To gaze upon the starry sky
And higher fancies build
And make in solitary joy
Loves temple in the field

[Farewell to love and all I see]

Farewell to love and all I see
In these dull English skies
For all the world turns round wi' me
Lost in thy two bright eyes

So fare-thee-well—a lover lost
I go where none can blame
And dearly shall I rue the cost
And scarcely keep a name

The little flowers and wild birds song
I leave them far away
In other lands and other tongues
A lonely bard to stray

In other lands I'll think of thee
Nor mortal love adore
The north star must its temple be
Where nought can change no more

655

MARY

A Ballad

1

Love is past and all the rest
Thereto belonging fled away
The most esteemed and valued best
Are faded all and gone away
How beautiful was Mary's dress
While dancing at the meadow ball
—'Tis twenty years or more at least
Since Mary seemed the first of all

2

Lord how young bonny Mary burnt
With blushes like the roses hue
My face like water thrown upon't
Turned white as lilies i' the dew
When grown a man I went to see
The school where Mary's name was known
I looked to find it on a Tree
But found it on a low grave stone

3

Now is past—was this the now
In fine straw-hat and ribbons gay
I'd court her neath the white thorn bough
And tell her all I had to say
But all is gone—and now is past
And still my spirits chill alone
Loves name that perished in the blast
Grows mossy on a church-yard stone

Novr. 11th/48.

656

SLEEP ON DEAR BABY

1

Sleep on dear baby thy mother leans o'er thee
Thy brother is Shot and thy father's at sea
I nothing can tell o' the fate all before thee
But God and his angels are talking to thee
Thy brother he fell in the heat o' the battle
Thy father may yet be alive on the sea
But thou'rt growing up for new toys & a rattle
For God and his angels are talking to thee

2

Sleep on my baby thy mother bends o'er thee
Sleep on in her love babe a beautiful sleep
May the raptures of heaven and angels before thee
Make thee smile in my face and leave no cause to weep
This feather held oer thee will make thee to smile
This straw took away love would make thee to weep
But nothing but angels on infancy smile
So baby sleep on love in beautiful sleep

SONG

[If abscence can forget me]

1

If abscence can forget me
Go where love once met thee
And loved so fondly there
We both admired together
When we courted in spring weather
And thyself appeared so fair

657

2

With kisses I carressed thee
As in my arms I press'd thee
Go and remember me
Remember him who told thee
Twas pleasure to behold thee
Beneath the hawthorn tree

3

O think of our embraces
As I kissed that first of faces
T'was neath that hawthorn tree
Think when my arms clasped round thee
You vowed you e're could love me
Now go remember me

4

O think of all I told thee
And think I'm left so lonely
Go and remember me
The willow grey were waving
The little brook was raving
Where last I met with thee

5

‘Met last’—two words so lonely
May pain my bosom only
To be estranged from thee
Alone among strange faces
Strange town and stranger places
O go remember me

658

SONG

[Here's the aconite a showing flower]

1

Here's the aconite a showing flower
Before the valentine
Of every day there is an hour
Sweet spring I'll claim as thine
I see thee when the first flower comes
And love thee while I can
I see thee when the wild bee hums
And think of Mary Ann

2

The snowdrops in the orchard grass
As white as clumps of snow
Drooping—tell thee lovely lass
That winter's strife must go
With all his snow storms drifting deep
No longer to trepan
The snowdrop wakes the hive bees sleep
And I love Mary Ann

3

The first of young springs early hours
My bonny love is she
The fairest rose in summer bowers
Is not so sweet as thee
My love she is a bonny lass
And I'll seek her when I can
The first white daisey in the grass
Brings me with Mary Ann—

659

SONG To J* — W*** —

3

In hat of straw and russet gown
And shawl across thy shoulders thrown
We'll stroll the coppice up and down
Enjoying raptures all our own
The scolding calls of noisy jay
Shall please our ears and not in vain
We'll through the briery coppice stray
Sweet love do let us meet again—

[Some pretty face remembered in our youth]

Some pretty face remembered in our youth
Seems ever with us wispering Love & Truth—

Augst 27th/48