 | Reverberations |  |
152
MAIZE.
In 1847, at the time of the Irish famine, maize was recommended as a nutritious article of food. If I remember rightly, Mr Carlyle, in a brief letter published in some newspaper, employed his forcible rhetoric in advising its cultivation.
Evermore God speed the plough,
Ever wave the field with gold,
That, my friends, besteads us now,
Which bestead the men of old.
Greet our gallant sires, and greet
The brave children of these days;
Once the world was sowed with wheat,
Now it shall be sowed with maize,
With the yellow, mellow maize.
Ever wave the field with gold,
That, my friends, besteads us now,
Which bestead the men of old.
Greet our gallant sires, and greet
The brave children of these days;
Once the world was sowed with wheat,
Now it shall be sowed with maize,
With the yellow, mellow maize.
God be praised that love may still
Be our highest bliss in life;
Here's the way, if there's the will,
For the man to win the wife.
Stalwart shoulder, heart of steel,
Eyes that can, with eagles' gaze,
Cross the seas and find your weal,
When ye sow the world with maize,
With the yellow, mellow maize.
Be our highest bliss in life;
Here's the way, if there's the will,
For the man to win the wife.
Stalwart shoulder, heart of steel,
Eyes that can, with eagles' gaze,
Cross the seas and find your weal,
When ye sow the world with maize,
With the yellow, mellow maize.
153
North and South, and East and West,
Isles and continents there lie,
Wooing man to be their guest,
Under broad blue roofs of sky.
Here the soft white wheat shall grow,
In the sun's more gentle rays,
But where fiercer summers glow,
Ye shall clothe the land with maize,
With the yellow, mellow maize.
Isles and continents there lie,
Wooing man to be their guest,
Under broad blue roofs of sky.
Here the soft white wheat shall grow,
In the sun's more gentle rays,
But where fiercer summers glow,
Ye shall clothe the land with maize,
With the yellow, mellow maize.
Hope have we of Afric's land,
Hope for Afric's ebon race;
Clear the jungles, hand in hand,
Dare the dreadful tiger chase.
Fold on fold the serpent lies,
Hero's sword the monster slays,
And the tawny lion flies,
As ye sow his lair with maize,
With the yellow, mellow maize.
Hope for Afric's ebon race;
Clear the jungles, hand in hand,
Dare the dreadful tiger chase.
Fold on fold the serpent lies,
Hero's sword the monster slays,
And the tawny lion flies,
As ye sow his lair with maize,
With the yellow, mellow maize.
| Reverberations | |