W. V. Her Book and Various Verses By William Canton ... With Two Illustrations by C. E. Brock |
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 | W. V. Her Book and Various Verses |  |
41
Her Book
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By the Fireside II
In the April sun at baby-house she plays.Her rooms are traced with stones and bits of bricks;
For warmth she lays a hearth with little sticks,
And one bright crocus makes a merry blaze!
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Babsie-Bird
In the orchard blithely waking,
Through the blossom, loud and clear,
Pipes the goldfinch, “Day is breaking;
Waken, Babsie; May is here!
Bloom is laughing; lambs are leaping;
Every new green leaflet sings;
Five chipp'd eggs will soon be cheeping;
God be praised for song and wings!”
Through the blossom, loud and clear,
Pipes the goldfinch, “Day is breaking;
Waken, Babsie; May is here!
Bloom is laughing; lambs are leaping;
Every new green leaflet sings;
Five chipp'd eggs will soon be cheeping;
God be praised for song and wings!”
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Warm and ruddy as an ember,
Lilting sweet from bush to stone,
On the moor in chill November
Flits the stone-chat all alone:
“Snow will soon drift up the heather;
Days are short, nights cold and long;
Meanwhile in this glinting weather
God be thanked for wings and song!”
Lilting sweet from bush to stone,
On the moor in chill November
Flits the stone-chat all alone:
“Snow will soon drift up the heather;
Days are short, nights cold and long;
Meanwhile in this glinting weather
God be thanked for wings and song!”
Round from Maytime to November
Babsie lilts upon the wing,
Far too happy to remember
Thanks or praise for anything;
Save at bedtime, laughing sinner,
When she gaily lisps along,
For the wings and song within her—
“Thank you, God, for wings and song!”
Babsie lilts upon the wing,
Far too happy to remember
Thanks or praise for anything;
Save at bedtime, laughing sinner,
When she gaily lisps along,
For the wings and song within her—
“Thank you, God, for wings and song!”
52
The Sweet Pea
Oh, what has been born in the night
To bask in this blithe summer morn?
She peers, in a dream of delight,
For something new-made or new-born.
To bask in this blithe summer morn?
She peers, in a dream of delight,
For something new-made or new-born.
Not spider-webs under the tree,
Not swifts in their cradle of mud,
But—“Look, father, Sweet Mrs. Pea
Has two little babies in bud!”
Not swifts in their cradle of mud,
But—“Look, father, Sweet Mrs. Pea
Has two little babies in bud!”
54
Heart-ease
Last June—how slight a thing to tell!—
One straggling leaf beneath the limes
Against the sunset rose and fell,
Making a rhythm with coloured rhymes.
One straggling leaf beneath the limes
Against the sunset rose and fell,
Making a rhythm with coloured rhymes.
No other leaf in all the air
Seemed waking; and my little maid
Watched with me, from the garden-chair,
Its rhythmic play of light and shade.
Seemed waking; and my little maid
Watched with me, from the garden-chair,
Its rhythmic play of light and shade.
Now glassy gold, now greenish grey,
It dropped, it lifted. That was all.
Strange I should still feel glad to-day
To have seen that one leaf lift and fall.
It dropped, it lifted. That was all.
Strange I should still feel glad to-day
To have seen that one leaf lift and fall.
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“Si j'avais un arpent”
Oh, had I but a plot of earth, on plain or vale or hill,
With running water babbling through, in torrent, spring, or rill,
With running water babbling through, in torrent, spring, or rill,
I'd plant a tree, an olive or an oak or willow-tree,
And build a roof of thatch, or tile, or reed, for mine and me.
And build a roof of thatch, or tile, or reed, for mine and me.
Upon my tree a nest of moss, or down, or wool, should hold
A songster—finch or thrush or blackbird with its bill of gold;
A songster—finch or thrush or blackbird with its bill of gold;
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Beneath my roof a child, with brown or blond or chestnut hair,
Should find in hammock, cradle or crib a nest, and slumber there.
Should find in hammock, cradle or crib a nest, and slumber there.
I ask for but a little plot; to measure my domain,
I'd say to Babs, my bairn of bliss, “Go, alderliefest wean,
I'd say to Babs, my bairn of bliss, “Go, alderliefest wean,
“And stand against the rising sun; your shadow on the grass
Shall trace the limits of my world; beyond I shall not pass.
Shall trace the limits of my world; beyond I shall not pass.
“The happiness one can't attain is dream and glamour-shine!”
These rhymes are Soulary's; the thoughts are Babs's thoughts and mine.
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