 | Verses from The island book |  |
16
SUNG AT THE HUNT, OCT. 1839.
Come to the sports of our wave-circled Isle,
Come when the forest is changing;
By the starry light of an autumn night
The deer through the woods are ranging.
Come when the forest is changing;
By the starry light of an autumn night
The deer through the woods are ranging.
The hoar-frost fringes the moss-covered tree,
The wind through the boughs is sighing;
Though its leaves are sear with the waning year,
A buck in their shade is lying.
The wind through the boughs is sighing;
Though its leaves are sear with the waning year,
A buck in their shade is lying.
The hues of summer are gone from the hill,
But the sunshine around it is streaming;
With a living light the forest is bright,
Where the doe in her lair is dreaming.
But the sunshine around it is streaming;
With a living light the forest is bright,
Where the doe in her lair is dreaming.
These are the glories of Nature's decay,—
She fades with no tinge of sadness;
O'er her scarlet bowers, o'er the dying flowers,
The fawns are leaping in gladness.
She fades with no tinge of sadness;
O'er her scarlet bowers, o'er the dying flowers,
The fawns are leaping in gladness.
And thus should life, like the fleeting year,
Grow bright as it nears the gloaming,
Till it shines a star in the fields of air,
Where the loved and lost ones are roaming.
Grow bright as it nears the gloaming,
17
Where the loved and lost ones are roaming.
Then come to the sports of our wave-circled Isle,
Come when the forest is changing;
By the starry light of an autumn night
The deer through its woods are ranging.
Come when the forest is changing;
By the starry light of an autumn night
The deer through its woods are ranging.
| Verses from The island book | |