 | Contributions to a Ballad History of England and the States Sprung from Her |  |
UFTON COURT.
Dive, dive, O swallow, dart and dive!
Your joy is changeless, but ours, how short!
So whispers this long-lost home to me,
My boyhood's dwelling of Ufton Court.
Your joy is changeless, but ours, how short!
So whispers this long-lost home to me,
My boyhood's dwelling of Ufton Court.
O weedy terrace! O silent walks!
O echoing porch! O waters green!
For forty years where the palm-tree waves,
Not such have my dreams of Ufton been!
O echoing porch! O waters green!
For forty years where the palm-tree waves,
Not such have my dreams of Ufton been!
Not so I saw you in that old time
When love, it struggled, but pride, it won;
When, choked with passion, I left you last,
For the march and camp 'neath an Indian sun.
When love, it struggled, but pride, it won;
When, choked with passion, I left you last,
For the march and camp 'neath an Indian sun.
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Not so I saw you, when on our line
The Pindarees' wild horse came down
Not so, 'mid the yell of the roaring breach,
When we storm'd red Bhurtpore's cloven town.
The Pindarees' wild horse came down
Not so, 'mid the yell of the roaring breach,
When we storm'd red Bhurtpore's cloven town.
No, all unchanged, in those Eastern dreams,
Your fountain leap'd, and your broad elms swung,
And with one soft laugh, that ever I heard,
With gladness and music, your chambers rung.
Your fountain leap'd, and your broad elms swung,
And with one soft laugh, that ever I heard,
With gladness and music, your chambers rung.
The oak is green, and the linnet sings
As sweet a song as ever it sung;
But where is the voice that warbled here
A sweeter music when I was young?
As sweet a song as ever it sung;
But where is the voice that warbled here
A sweeter music when I was young?
Soft falls the sunlight as then it fell,
On gable, and casement, and garden-wall;
But where is she, to my boyish heart
Who made the gladness of Ufton Hall?
On gable, and casement, and garden-wall;
But where is she, to my boyish heart
Who made the gladness of Ufton Hall?
“Or you or I should go,” they said,
“Or you be homeless, or I depart.”
Strange lands they thrust between our love,
But never they thrust us heart from heart!
“Or you be homeless, or I depart.”
Strange lands they thrust between our love,
But never they thrust us heart from heart!
A differing faith our fathers held;
A differing faith we from them drew;
My curse be on the ancient jars
That help'd to part me, love, from you
A differing faith we from them drew;
My curse be on the ancient jars
That help'd to part me, love, from you
My curse be on the bigot hate
That bann'd thy rites, O ancient Hall,
And hunted forth thy outlaw'd priests
From passaged roof and hollow'd wall!
That bann'd thy rites, O ancient Hall,
And hunted forth thy outlaw'd priests
From passaged roof and hollow'd wall!
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“A boyish passion, a girlish love,
“Let other faces our fancies fill.”
Little they thought would my hair be white,
And her smile in my heart be lonely still.
“Let other faces our fancies fill.”
Little they thought would my hair be white,
And her smile in my heart be lonely still.
For forty Springs have your thorn-trees bloom'd,
For forty Autumns your oaks been gold,
Yet the sight of your rising chimneys shook
My blood, as it thrill'd its throbs of old.
For forty Autumns your oaks been gold,
Yet the sight of your rising chimneys shook
My blood, as it thrill'd its throbs of old.
Yet ah! how little, as children here,
When these same garden-walks we paced,
We thought that the love we then scarce knew,
They fain would have from our hearts effaced.
When these same garden-walks we paced,
We thought that the love we then scarce knew,
They fain would have from our hearts effaced.
Effaced! Our names on the beech then cut,
The beech with years may at last resign,
But never a change my love could know,
And never a change could come to thine.
The beech with years may at last resign,
But never a change my love could know,
And never a change could come to thine.
Ah, well I mind me of that sweet hour
When conscious love to your eyes first came;
No, never I knew their depths to leave,
Or shown or hidden, till death the same.
When conscious love to your eyes first came;
No, never I knew their depths to leave,
Or shown or hidden, till death the same.
O hazel eyes, 'mid your soft brown curls,
Fain, fain had hidden them, land and sea!
But ever they lived before my thought,
And ever they look'd their love to me.
Fain, fain had hidden them, land and sea!
But ever they lived before my thought,
And ever they look'd their love to me.
For ever they gazed with that parting look
That sware a love that must endure,
The love of the heiress of Ufton Court
For me, her cousin, scorn'd and poor.
That sware a love that must endure,
The love of the heiress of Ufton Court
For me, her cousin, scorn'd and poor.
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Yet never a breath of that sweet love
Or word or letter to me might bear;
Too keen was that mother's cold, proud watch,
But, utter'd or not, that love was there.
Or word or letter to me might bear;
Too keen was that mother's cold, proud watch,
But, utter'd or not, that love was there.
Ay, long they pray'd her to wed the Earl,
And long they scoff'd at her idle gloom;
But changeless stole she away from youth,
Stole she unto her early tomb.
And long they scoff'd at her idle gloom;
But changeless stole she away from youth,
Stole she unto her early tomb.
And therefore, well, to my aged thoughts,
It seems that, heirless, to stranger hands,
From those who wither'd our joy to grief,
Should pass, old Court, thy Hall and lands.
It seems that, heirless, to stranger hands,
From those who wither'd our joy to grief,
Should pass, old Court, thy Hall and lands.
And now, at length, that I look once more,
Old home, on thee, decay thy fate,
On thee, I say, let the curse work on,
Of the hearts thy pride made desolate.
Old home, on thee, decay thy fate,
On thee, I say, let the curse work on,
Of the hearts thy pride made desolate.
| Contributions to a Ballad History of England and the States Sprung from Her | |