The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay With Illustrations by John Gilbert |
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| I. |
| II. |
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| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
THE OLD MAN TO THE SWALLOW. |
 | The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay |  |
THE OLD MAN TO THE SWALLOW.
I
Why dost thou linger, Swallow?Why dost thou linger here?
For the summer, it is gone,
And the frosts are coming on,
And the gray and hoary locks of the year.
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II
Thou art wrong to flit about me;All the butterflies are dead,
And the blue and yellow flowers
Bloom no longer in the bowers,
And the leaves fall brown and sere where I tread.
III
Get thee gone to warmer regions!Here, no more, hath music birth;
Not a cheep in all the sky—
Not an echo floating by
Of the melody and harmony of earth.
IV
Get thee gone, thou foolish Swallow!Get thee gone! the days are cold,
And the nights are dark and long,
And the wind is bitter strong,
And my heart, like the year, is growing old.
| The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay | |