113. FROM JUNE' AND what if cheerful shouts, at noon, Or songs of maids, beneath the moon, I would the lovely scene around I know, I know I should not see Nor would its brightness shine for me, But if around my place of sleep, The friends I love should come to weep, Soft airs, and song, and light, and bloom And speak of one who cannot share Whose part in all the pomp that fills Is that his grave is green; And deeply would their hearts rejoice W. C. BRYANT. 114. SO LIVE, THAT WHEN THY SUMMONS COMES So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed W. C. BRYANT (Thanatopsis). 115. TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN Thou comest not when violets lean Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest. Thou waitest late and com'st alone, Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye I would that thus, when I shall see W. C. BRYANT. 116. TO A WATERFOWL WHITHER, midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, Seek'st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, There is a Power whose care Lone wandering, but not lost. He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, Will lead my steps aright. LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNI W. C. BRYANT. 117. FROM ARTIST AND MODEL' Is it not pleasant to wander Chase us along the panes, As down among country lanes ? Than the moon on hedges and And people coming and going, All upon ends of their own, Though they work a spell on the spirit, Move it more finely alone. The sound seems harmless and pleasant As the murmur of brook and wind; The shops with the fruit and the And nobody knows us, heeds us, And our loving none reproves,— And what if the world should scorn you, For now and again, as you do, Assuming a country kirtle, And bonnet of straw thereto, Or the robe of a vestal virgin, Or a nun's grey gabardine, And keeping a brother and sister By standing and looking divine? And what if the world, more over, Should silently pass me by, Because, at the dawn of the struggle, I labour some stories high! Why, there's comfort in waiting, working, And feeling one's heart beat And rambling alone, love-making, THE crimson light of sunset falls Through the grey glamour of the murmuring rain, Through the black smoke upon the broken pane, Steals to the straw on which she lies, And tints her thin black hair and hollow cheeks, But when it is no longer light, The pale girl smiles, with only One to mark, And dies upon the breast of Night, Like trodden snowdrift melting in the dark. R. BUCHANAN. 119. SONG IN THE VALLEY OF HUMILIATION HE that is down, needs fear no fall, He that is low, no pride: I am content with what I have, And, Lord, contentment still I crave, Because Thou savest such. Fullness to such a burden is Here little, and hereafter bliss, J. BUNYAN (The Pilgrim's Progress). 120. TO BE A PILGRIM WHO would true valour see, Who so beset him round No lion can him fright, Hobgoblin, nor foul fiend, J. BUNYAN (The Pilgrim's Progress). 121. OLD SCOTIA'S GRANDEUR FROM Scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 6 An honest man 's the noblest work of God; ' And certes, in fair virtue's heavenly road, The cottage leaves the palace far behind; R. BURNS (The Cotter's Saturday Night). 122. FOR A' THAT AND A' THAT Is there, for honest poverty, The coward-slave, we pass him by, We dare be poor for a' that! Our toils obscure, and a' that; What tho' on hamely fare we dine, Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, Their tinsel show, and a' that; Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord, Wha struts and stares, and a' that; For a' that, and a' that, His riband, star, and a' that, Their dignities, and a' that, The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth, Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that; That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth, It's coming yet, for a' that, That man to man the warld o'er, 123. A' FOR OUR RIGHTFU' KING It was a' for our rightfu' King, We left fair Scotland's strand; We e'er saw Irish land. And a' is done in vain; My love and native land fare well, For I maun cross the main, For I maun cross the main. R. BURNS. He turned him right and round Upon the Irish shore ; Adieu for evermore. The sodger from the wars returns, Never to meet again. |