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Hagar

The Singing Maiden, with Other Stories and Rhymes,

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[“O once my heart was light and gay]
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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5

[“O once my heart was light and gay]

[_]

This poem has been extracted from a passage of prose text.

“O once my heart was light and gay,
As a bird upon the wing,
Life seemed the longest, brightest day
That comes in early Spring.
My mother sat beside the door,
And sang her ballads o'er and o'er.
O dearly loved my father then
Our little cottage home,
He cared not for those wicked men,
He had no wish to roam.
He sat and wove his baskets there,
And sang his songs without a care.
But since my mother went away,
To find a home for me,
In some far land, where morning's ray,
Shines on a Jasper sea;
The shadow o'er my father came,
And blighted all our honest name.

6

Our cabin is a darksome spot,
Want sits beside the hearth;
And very lonely is my lot.
Without a friend on earth!
O mother, by that Jasper sea,
Dost thou not sometimes think of me?
I sleep, and dream I see thee stand
Beside me as of yore;
I feel the soft touch of thy hand,
And all my grief is o'er.
I waken from my dream, so fair,
To find the loved one is not there!”