Golden Histories, etc By Wathen Mark Wilks Call |
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Little Boy Blue.
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 | Golden Histories, etc |  |
148
Little Boy Blue.
I.
I lay in the rushes,
Where summer light fell
On the trees and the bushes
That bordered the well.
Where summer light fell
On the trees and the bushes
That bordered the well.
All the flowers were gleaming
In crimson and gold,
And the sunlight lay dreaming
On meadow and wold.
In crimson and gold,
And the sunlight lay dreaming
On meadow and wold.
But the bud and the chalice
Are fading away,
From the roses' red palace
Step Genie and Fay.
Are fading away,
From the roses' red palace
Step Genie and Fay.
Step from golden pavilion
In blossoming bowers,
From hall of vermilion,
The Souls of the flowers.
In blossoming bowers,
From hall of vermilion,
The Souls of the flowers.
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They wreathe their wild dances,
They glide and they spring;
Each recedes, each advances,
They laugh and they sing.
They glide and they spring;
Each recedes, each advances,
They laugh and they sing.
But with blushes and flushes,
One sounds on a horn,
And more green grow the rushes,
More yellow the corn.
One sounds on a horn,
And more green grow the rushes,
More yellow the corn.
But she sees, she befriends him,
She smiles on the boy;
She calls him, she lends him
That delicate toy.
She smiles on the boy;
She calls him, she lends him
That delicate toy.
And the Child loves and praises
Its mystical strain,
And Age feels the daisies
Bloom round him again.
Its mystical strain,
And Age feels the daisies
Bloom round him again.
II.
When the corn-fields and meadows
Are pearl'd with the dew,
With the first sunny shadows
Walks little Boy Blue.
Are pearl'd with the dew,
With the first sunny shadows
Walks little Boy Blue.
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O the Nymphs and the Graces
Still gleam on his eyes,
And the kind fairy faces
Look down from the skies;
Still gleam on his eyes,
And the kind fairy faces
Look down from the skies;
And a secret revealing
Of life within life,
When feeling meets feeling
In musical strife;
Of life within life,
When feeling meets feeling
In musical strife;
A winding and weaving
In flowers and in trees,
A floating and heaving
In sunlight and breeze;
In flowers and in trees,
A floating and heaving
In sunlight and breeze;
And a striving and soaring,
A gladness and grace,
Make him kneel, half adoring
The God in the place.
A gladness and grace,
Make him kneel, half adoring
The God in the place.
Then amid the live shadows
Of lambs at their play,
Where the kine scent the meadows,
With breath like the May,
Of lambs at their play,
Where the kine scent the meadows,
With breath like the May,
He stands in the splendour
That waits on the morn,
And a music more tender
Distils from his horn:
That waits on the morn,
And a music more tender
Distils from his horn:
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And he weeps, he rejoices,
He prays, nor in vain,
For soft loving voices
Will answer again.
He prays, nor in vain,
For soft loving voices
Will answer again.
And the Nymphs and the Graces
Still gleam through the dew,
And kind fairy faces
Watch little Boy Blue.
Still gleam through the dew,
And kind fairy faces
Watch little Boy Blue.
| Golden Histories, etc | |