[ { "title": "A Song of Autumn", "author": "Adam Lindsay Gordon", "lines": [ "‘WHERE shall we go for our garlands glad", "At the falling of the year,", "When the burnt-up banks are yellow and sad,", "When the boughs are yellow and sere?", "Where are the old ones that once we had,", "And when are the new ones near?", "What shall we do for our garlands glad", "At the falling of the year?’", "‘Child! can I tell where the garlands go?", "Can I say where the lost leaves veer", "On the brown-burnt banks, when the wild winds blow,", "When they drift through the dead-wood drear?", "Girl! when the garlands of next year glow,", "You may gather again, my dear—", "But I go where the last year’s lost leaves go", "At the falling of the year.’" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Four Songs Of Four Seasons", "author": "Algernon Charles Swinburne", "lines": [ "I. WINTER IN NORTHUMBERLAND", "OUTSIDE the garden", "The wet skies harden;", "The gates are barred on", "The summer side:", "\"Shut out the flower-time,", "Sunbeam and shower-time;", "Make way for our time,\"", "Wild winds have cried.", "Green once and cheery,", "The woods, worn weary,", "Sigh as the dreary", "Weak sun goes home:", "A great wind grapples", "The wave, and dapples", "The dead green floor of the sea with foam.", "", "Through fell and moorland,", "And salt-sea foreland,", "Our noisy norland", "Resounds and rings;", "Waste waves thereunder", "Are blown in sunder,", "And winds make thunder", "With cloudwide wings;", "Sea-drift makes dimmer", "The beacon's glimmer;", "Nor sail nor swimmer", "Can try the tides;", "And snowdrifts thicken", "Where, when leaves quicken,", "Under the heather the sundew hides.", "", "Green land and red land,", "Moorside and headland,", "Are white as dead land,", "Are all as one;", "Nor honied heather,", "Nor bells to gather,", "Fair with fair weather", "And faithful sun:", "Fierce frost has eaten", "All flowers that sweeten", "The fells rain-beaten;", "And winds their foes", "Have made the snow's bed", "Down in the rose-bed;", "Deep in the snow's bed bury the rose.", "", "Bury her deeper", "Than any sleeper;", "Sweet dreams will keep her", "All day, all night;", "Though sleep benumb her", "And time o'ercome her,", "She dreams of summer,", "And takes delight,", "Dreaming and sleeping", "In love's good keeping,", "While rain is weeping", "And no leaves cling;", "Winds will come bringing her", "Comfort, and singing her", "Stories and songs and good news of the spring.", "", "Draw the white curtain", "Close, and be certain", "She takes no hurt in", "Her soft low bed;", "She feels no colder,", "And grows not older,", "Though snows enfold her", "From foot to head;", "She turns not chilly", "Like weed and lily", "In marsh or hilly", "High watershed,", "Or green soft island", "In lakes of highland;", "She sleeps awhile, and she is not dead.", "", "For all the hours,", "Come sun, come showers,", "Are friends of flowers,", "And fairies all;", "When frost entrapped her,", "They came and lapped her", "In leaves, and wrapped her", "With shroud and pall;", "In red leaves wound her,", "With dead leaves bound her", "Dead brows, and round her", "A death-knell rang;", "Rang the death-bell for her,", "Sang, \"is it well for her,", "Well, is it well with you, rose?\" they sang.", "", "O what and where is", "The rose now, fairies,", "So shrill the air is,", "So wild the sky?", "Poor last of roses,", "Her worst of woes is", "The noise she knows is", "The winter's cry;", "His hunting hollo", "Has scared the swallow;", "Fain would she follow", "And fain would fly:", "But wind unsettles", "Her poor last petals;", "Had she but wings, and she would not die.", "", "Come, as you love her,", "Come close and cover", "Her white face over,", "And forth again", "Ere sunset glances", "On foam that dances,", "Through lowering lances", "Of bright white rain;", "And make your playtime", "Of winter's daytime,", "As if the Maytime", "Were here to sing;", "As if the snowballs", "Were soft like blowballs,", "Blown in a mist from the stalk in the spring.", "", "Each reed that grows in", "Our stream is frozen,", "The fields it flows in", "Are hard and black;", "The water-fairy", "Waits wise and wary", "Till time shall vary", "And thaws come back.", "\"O sister, water,\"", "The wind besought her,", "\"O twin-born daughter", "Of spring with me,", "Stay with me, play with me,", "Take the warm way with me,", "Straight for the summer and oversea.\"", "", "But winds will vary,", "And wise and wary", "The patient fairy", "Of water waits;", "All shrunk and wizen,", "In iron prison,", "Till spring re-risen", "Unbar the gates;", "Till, as with clamor", "Of axe and hammer,", "Chained streams that stammer", "And struggle in straits", "Burst bonds that shiver,", "And thaws deliver", "The roaring river in stormy spates.", "", "In fierce March weather", "White waves break tether,", "And whirled together", "At either hand,", "Like weeds uplifted,", "The tree-trunks rifted", "In spars are drifted,", "Like foam or sand,", "Past swamp and sallow", "And reed-beds callow,", "Through pool and shallow,", "To wind and lee,", "Till, no more tongue-tied,", "Full flood and young tide", "Roar down the rapids and storm the sea.", "", "As men's cheeks faded", "On shores invaded,", "When shorewards waded", "The lords of fight;", "When churl and craven", "Saw hard on haven", "The wide-winged raven", "At mainmast height;", "When monks affrighted", "To windward sighted", "The birds full-flighted", "Of swift sea-kings;", "So earth turns paler", "When Storm the sailor", "Steers in with a roar in the race of his wings.", "", "O strong sea-sailor,", "Whose cheek turns paler", "For wind or hail or", "For fear of thee?", "O far sea-farer,", "O thunder-bearer,", "Thy songs are rarer", "Than soft songs be.", "O fleet-foot stranger,", "O north-sea ranger", "Through days of danger", "And ways of fear,", "Blow thy horn here for us,", "Blow the sky clear for us,", "Send us the song of the sea to hear.", "", "Roll the strong stream of it", "Up, till the scream of it", "Wake from a dream of it", "Children that sleep,", "Seamen that fare for them", "Forth, with a prayer for them:", "Shall not God care for them", "Angels not keep?", "Spare not the surges", "Thy stormy scourges;", "Spare us the dirges", "Of wives that weep.", "Turn back the waves for us:", "Dig no fresh graves for us,", "Wind, in the manifold gulfs of the deep.", "", "O stout north-easter,", "Sea-king, land-waster,", "For all thine haste, or", "Thy stormy skill,", "Yet hadst thou never,", "For all endeavour,", "Strength to dissever", "Or strength to spill,", "Save of his giving", "Who gave our living,", "Whose hands are weaving", "What ours fulfil;", "Whose feet tread under", "The storms and thunder;", "Who made our wonder to work his will.", "", "His years and hours,", "His world's blind powers,", "His stars and flowers,", "His nights and days,", "Sea-tide and river,", "And waves that shiver,", "Praise God, the giver", "Of tongues to praise.", "Winds in their blowing,", "And fruits in growing;", "Time in its going,", "While time shall be;", "In death and living,", "With one thanksgiving,", "Praise him whose hand is the strength of the sea.", "", "II. SPRING IN TUSCANY", "ROSE-RED lilies that bloom on the banner;", "Rose-cheeked gardens that revel in spring;", "Rose-mouthed acacias that laugh as they climb,", "Like plumes for a queen's hand fashioned to fan her", "With wind more soft than a wild dove's wing,", "What do they sing in the spring of their time", "", "If this be the rose that the world hears singing,", "Soft in the soft night, loud in the day,", "Songs for the fireflies to dance as they hear;", "If that be the song of the nightingale, springing", "Forth in the form of a rose in May,", "What do they say of the way of the year?", "", "What of the way of the world gone Maying,", "What of the work of the buds in the bowers,", "What of the will of the wind on the wall,", "Fluttering the wall-flowers, sighing and playing,", "Shrinking again as a bird that cowers,", "Thinking of hours when the flowers have to fall?", "", "Out of the throats of the loud birds showering,", "Out of the folds where the flag-lilies leap,", "Out of the mouths of the roses stirred,", "Out of the herbs on the walls reflowering,", "Out of the heights where the sheer snows sleep,", "Out of the deep and the steep, one word.", "", "One from the lips of the lily-flames leaping,", "The glad red lilies that burn in our sight,", "The great live lilies for standard and crown;", "One from the steeps where the pines stand sleeping,", "One from the deep land, one from the height,", "One from the light and the might of the town.", "", "The lowlands laugh with delight of the highlands,", "Whence May winds feed them with balm and breath", "From hills that beheld in the years behind", "A shape as of one from the blest souls' islands,", "Made fair by a soul too fair for death,", "With eyes on the light that should smite them blind.", "", "Vallombrosa remotely remembers,", "Perchance, what still to us seems so near", "That time not darkens it, change not mars,", "The foot that she knew when her leaves were September's,", "The face lift up to the star-blind seer,", "That saw from his prison arisen his stars.", "", "And Pisa broods on her dead, not mourning,", "For love of her loveliness given them in fee;", "And Prato gleams with the glad monk's gift", "Whose hand was there as the hand of morning;", "And Siena, set in the sand's red sea,", "Lifts loftier her head than the red sand's drift.", "", "And far to the fair south-westward lightens,", "Girdled and sandalled and plumed with flowers,", "At sunset over the love-lit lands,", "The hill-side's crown where the wild hill brightens,", "Saint Fina's town of the Beautiful Towers,", "Hailing the sun with a hundred hands.", "", "Land of us all that have loved thee dearliest,", "Mother of men that were lords of man,", "Whose name in the world's heart work a spell", "My last song's light, and the star of mine earliest,", "As we turn from thee, sweet, who wast ours for a span,", "Fare well we may not who say farewell.", "", "III. SUMMER IN AUVERGNE", "THE sundawn fills the land", "Full as a feaster's hand", "Fills full with bloom of bland", "Bright wine his cup;", "Flows full to flood that fills", "From the arch of air it thrills", "Those rust-red iron hills", "With morning up.", "", "Dawn, as a panther springs,", "With fierce and fire-fledged wings", "Leaps on the land that rings", "From her bright feet", "Through all its lava-black", "Cones that cast answer back", "And cliffs of footless track", "Where thunders meet.", "", "The light speaks wide and loud", "From deeps blown clean of cloud", "As though day's heart were proud", "And heaven's were glad;", "The towers brown-striped and grey", "Take fire from heaven of day", "As though the prayers they pray", "Their answers had.", "", "Higher in these high first hours", "Wax all the keen church towers,", "And higher all hearts of ours", "Than the old hills' crown,", "Higher than the pillared height", "Of that strange cliff-side bright", "With basalt towers whose might", "Strong time bows down.", "", "And the old fierce ruin there", "Of the old wild princes' lair", "Whose blood in mine hath share", "Gapes gaunt and great", "Toward heaven that long ago", "Watched all the wan land's woe", "Whereon the wind would blow", "Of their bleak hate.", "", "Dead are those deeds; but yet", "Their memory seems to fret", "Lands that might else forget", "That old world's brand;", "Dead all their sins and days;", "Yet in this red clime's rays", "Some fiery memory stays", "That sears their land.", "", "IV. AUTUMN IN CORNWALL", "THE year lies fallen and faded", "On cliffs by clouds invaded,", "With tongues of storms upbraided,", "With wrath of waves bedinned;", "And inland, wild with warning,", "As in deaf ears or scorning,", "The clarion even and morning", "Rings of the south-west wind.", "", "The wild bents wane and wither", "In blasts whose breath bows hither", "Their grey-grown heads and thither,", "Unblest of rain or sun;", "The pale fierce heavens are crowded", "With shapes like dreams beclouded,", "As though the old year enshrouded", "Lay, long ere life were done.", "", "Full-charged with oldworld wonders,", "From dusk Tintagel thunders", "A note that smites and sunders", "The hard frore fields of air;", "A trumpet stormier-sounded", "Than once from lists rebounded", "When strong men sense-confounded", "Fell thick in tourney there.", "", "From scarce a duskier dwelling", "Such notes of wail rose welling", "Through the outer darkness, telling", "In the awful singer's ears", "What souls the darkness covers,", "What love-lost souls of lovers,", "Whose cry still hangs and hovers", "In each man's born that hears.", "", "For there by Hector's brother", "And yet some thousand other", "He that had grief to mother", "Passed pale from Dante's sight;", "With one fast linked as fearless,", "Perchance, there only tearless;", "Iseult and Tristram, peerless", "And perfect queen and knight.", "", "A shrill-winged sound comes flying", "North, as of wild souls crying", "The cry of things undying,", "That know what life must be;", "Or as the old year's heart, stricken", "Too sore for hope to quicken", "By thoughts like thorns that thicken,", "Broke, breaking with the sea." ], "linecount": "400" }, { "title": "Song To Diana", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Queen and huntress, chaste and fair,", "Now the sun is laid to sleep,", "Seated in thy silver chair", "State in wonted manner keep:", "Hesperus entreats thy light,", "Goddess excellently bright.", "", "Earth, let not thy envious shade", "Dare itself to interpose;", "Cynthia's shining orb was made", "Heaven to clear when day did close:", "Bless us then with wished sight,", "Goddess excellently bright.", "", "Lay thy bow of pearl apart,", "And thy crystal-shining quiver;", "Give unto the flying hart", "Space to breathe, how short soever:", "Thou that mak'st a day of night,", "Goddess excellently bright." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Song To Celia - II", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Drink to me only with thine eyes,", " And I will pledge with mine;", "Or leave a kiss but in the cup,", " And I'll not look for wine.", "The thirst that from the soul doth rise", " Doth ask a drink divine;", "But might I of Jove's nectar sup,", " I would not change for thine.", "", "I sent thee late a rosy wreath,", " Not so much honouring thee", "As giving it a hope, that there", " It could not withered be.", "But thou thereon didst only breathe,", " And sent'st it back to me;", "Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,", " Not of itself, but thee." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Song from The Silent Woman", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Still to be neat, still to be dressed,", "As you were going to a feast;", "Still to be powdered, still perfumed:", "Lady, it is to be presumed,", "Though art's hid causes are not found,", "All is not sweet, all is not sound.", "", "Give me a look, give me a face,", "That makes simplicity a grace;", "Robes loosely flowing, hair as free;", "Such sweet neglect more taketh me", "Than all th' adulteries of art:", "They strike mine eyes, but not my heart." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Song To Celia - I", "author": "Ben Jonson", "lines": [ "Come, my Celia, let us prove", "While we may the sports of love;", "Time will not be ours forever,", "He at length our good will sever.", "", "Spend not then his gifts in vain;", "Suns that set may rise again,", "But if once we lose this light,", "'Tis with us perpetual night.", "", "Why should we defer our joys?", "Fame and rumour are but toys.", "Cannot we delude the eyes", "Of a few poor household spies?", "Or his easier ears beguile,", "So removed by our wile?", "", "'Tis no sin love's fruits to steal;", "But the sweet theft to reveal,", "To be taken, to be seen,", "These have crimes accounted been." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "A Song To David", "author": "Christopher Smart", "lines": [ "I", "O THOU, that sit'st upon a throne,", "With harp of high majestic tone,", " To praise the King of kings;", "And voice of heav'n-ascending swell,", "Which, while its deeper notes excell,", " Clear, as a clarion, rings:", "", " II", "To bless each valley, grove and coast,", "And charm the cherubs to the post", " Of gratitude in throngs;", "To keep the days on Zion's mount,", "And send the year to his account,", " With dances and with songs:", "", " III", "O Servant of God's holiest charge,", "The minister of praise at large,", " Which thou may'st now receive;", "From thy blest mansion hail and hear,", "From topmost eminence appear", " To this the wreath I weave.", "", " IV", "Great, valiant, pious, good, and clean,", "Sublime, contemplative, serene,", " Strong, constant, pleasant, wise!", "Bright effluence of exceeding grace;", "Best man!—the swiftest and the race,", " The peril, and the prize!", "", " V", "Great—from the lustre of his crown,", "From Samuel's horn, and God's renown,", " Which is the people's voice;", "For all the host, from rear to van,", "Applauded and embrac'd the man—", " The man of God's own choice.", "", " VI", "Valiant—the word, and up he rose;", "The fight—he triumph'd o'er the foes,", " Whom God's just laws abhor;", "And, arm'd in gallant faith, he took", "Against the boaster, from the brook,", " The weapons of the war.", "", " VII", "Pious—magnificent and grand;", "'Twas he the famous temple plann'd;", " (The seraph in his soul:)", "Foremost to give his Lord His dues,", "Foremost to bless the welcome news,", " And foremost to condole.", "", " VIII", "Good—from Jehudah's genuine vein,", "From God's best nature good in grain,", " His aspect and his heart;", "To pity, to forgive, to save,", "Witness En-gedi's conscious cave,", " And Shimei's blunted dart.", "", " IX", "Clean—if perpetual prayer be pure,", "And love, which could itself inure", " To fasting and to fear—", "Clean in his gestures, hands, and feet,", "To smite the lyre, the dance complete,", " To play the sword and spear.", "", " X", "Sublime—invention ever young,", "Of vast conception, tow'ring tongue,", " To God th'eternal theme;", "Notes from yon exaltations caught,", "Unrival'd royalty of thought,", " O'er meaner strains supreme.", "", " XI", "Contemplative—on God to fix", "His musings, and above the six", " The Sabbath-day he blest;", "'Twas then his thoughts self-conquest prun'd,", "And heav'nly melancholy tun'd,", " To bless and bear the rest.", "", " XII", "Serene—to sow the seeds of peace,", "Rememb'ring, when he watch'd the fleece,", " How sweetly Kidron purl'd—", "To further knowledge, silence vice,", "And plant plant perpetual paradise,", " When God had calm'd the world.", "", " XIII", "Strong—in the Lord, Who could defy", "Satan, and all his pow'rs that lie", " In sempiternal night;", "And hell, and horror, and despair", "Were as the lion and the bear", " To his undaunted might.", "", " XIV", "Constant—in love to God, THE TRUTH,", "Age, manhood, infancy, and youth—", " To Jonathan his friend", "Constant, beyond the verge of death;", "And Zilba, and Mephibosheth,", " His endless fame attend.", "", " XV", "Pleasant—various as the year;", "Man, soul, and angel, without peer,", " Priest, champion, sage, and boy;", "In armor, or in ephod clad,", "His pomp, his piety was glad;", " Majestic was his joy.", "", " XVI", "Wise—in recovery from his fall,", "Whence rose his eminence o'er all,", " Of all the most revil'd;", "The light of Israel in his ways,", "Wise are his precepts, prayer and praise,", " And counsel to his child.", "", " XVII", "His muse, bright angel of his verse,", "Gives balm for all the thorns that pierce,", " For all the pangs that rage;", "Blest light, still gaining on the gloom,", "The more than Michal of his bloom,", " Th'Abishag of his age.", "", " XVIII", "He sung of God—the mighty source", "Of all things—the stupendous force", " On which all strength depends;", "From Whose right arm, beneath Whose eyes,", "All period, pow'r, and enterprise", " Commences, reigns, and ends.", "", " XIX", "Angels—their ministry and meed,", "Which to and fro with blessings speed,", " Or with their citherns wait;", "Where Michael with his millions bows,", "Where dwells the seraph and his spouse", " The cherub and her mate.", "", " XX", "O David, scholar of the Lord!", "Of God and Love—the Saint elect", " For infinite applause—", "To rule the land, and briny broad,", "To be laborious in His laud,", " And heroes in His cause.", "", " XXI", "The world—the clust'ring spheres He made,", "The glorious light, the soothing shade,", " Dale, champaign, grove, and hill;", "The multitudinous abyss,", "Where secrecy remains in bliss,", " And wisdom hides her skill", "", " XXII", "Trees, plants, and flow'rs—of virtuous root;", "Gem yielding blossom, yielding fruit,", " Choice gums and precious balm;", "Bless ye the nosegay in the vale,", "And with the sweetness of the gale", " Enrich the thankful psalm.", "", " XXIII", "Of fowl—e'en ev'ry beak and wing", "Which cheer the winter, hail the spring,", " That live in peace or prey;", "They that make music, or that mock,", "The quail, the brave domestic cock,", " The raven, swan, and jay.", "", " XXIV", "Of fishes—ev'ry size and shape,", "Which nature frames of light escape,", " Devouring man to shun:", "The shells are in the wealthy deep,", "The shoals upon the surface leap,", " And love the glancing sun.", "", " XXV", "Of beasts—the beaver plods his task,", "While the sleek tigers roll and bask,", " Nor yet the shades arouse:", "Her cave the mining coney scoops;", "Where o'er the mead the mountain stoops,", " The kids exult and browse.", "", " XXVI", "Of gems—their virtue and their price,", "Which hid in earth from man's device,", " Their darts of lustre sheathe;", "The jasper of the master's stamp,", "The topaz blazing like a lamp,", " Among the mines beneath.", "", " XXVII", "Blest was the tenderness he felt", "When to his graceful harp he knelt,", " And did for audience call;", "When Satan with his hand he quell'd", "And in serene suspense he held", " The frantic throes of Saul.", "", " XXVIII", "His furious foes no more malign'd", "As he such melody divin'd,", " And sense and soul detain'd;", "Now striking strong, now soothing soft,", "He sent the godly sounds aloft,", " Or in delight refrain'd.", "", " XXIX", "When up to heav'n his thoughts he pil'd", "From fervent lips fair Michal smil'd,", " As blush to blush she stood;", "And chose herself the queen, and gave", "Her utmost from her heart, \"so brave,", " And plays his hymns so good.\"", "", " XXX", "The pillars of the Lord are seven,", "Which stand from earth to topmost heav'n;", " His wisdom drew the plan;", "His WORD accomplish'd the design,", "From brightest gem to deepest mine,", " From CHRIST enthron'd to man.", "", " XXXI", "Alpha, the cause of causes, first", "In station, fountain, whence the burst", " Of light, and blaze of day;", "Whence bold attempt, and brave advance,", "Have motion, life, and ordinance", " And heav'n itself its stay.", "", " XXXII", "Gamma supports the glorious arch", "On which angelic legions march,", " And is with sapphires pav'd;", "Thence the fleet clouds are sent adrift,", "And thence the painted folds, that lift", " The crimson veil, are wav'd.", "", " XXXIII", "Eta with living sculpture breathes,", "With verdant carvings, flow'ry wreathes,", " Of never-wasting bloom;", "In strong relief his goodly base", "All instruments of labor grace,", " The trowel, spade, and loom.", "", " XXXIV", "Next Theta stands to the Supreme—", "Who form'd, in number, sign, and scheme,", " Th'illustrious lights that are:", "And one address'd his saffrom robe,", "And one, clad in a silver globe,", " Held rule with ev'ry star.", "", " XXXV", "Iota's tun'd to choral hymns", "Of those that fly, while he that swims", " In thankful safety lurks;", "And foot, and chapitre, and niche,", "The various histories enrich", " Of God's record'd works.", "", " XXXVI", "Sigma presents the social droves,", "With him that solitary roves,", " And man of all the chief;", "Fair on whose face, and stately frame,", "Did God impress His hallow'd name,", " For ocular belief.", "", " XXXVII", "OMEGA! GREATEST and the BEST,", "Stands sacred to the day of rest,", " For gratitude and thought;", "Which bless'd the world upon his pole,", "And gave the universe his goal,", " And clos'd th'infernal draught.", "", " XXXVIII", "O DAVID, scholar of the Lord!", "Such is thy science, whence reward", " And infinite degree;", "O strength, O sweetness, lasting ripe!", "God's harp thy symbol, and thy type", " The lion and the bee!", "", " XXXIX", "There is but One who ne'er rebell'd,", "But One by passion unimpell'd,", " By pleasures unentic'd;", "He from Himself His semblance sent,", "Grand object of His own content,", " And saw the God in CHRIST.", "", " XL", "Tell them, I am, JEHOVAH said", "To MOSES; while earth heard in dread,", " And, smitten to the heart,", "At once above, beneath, around,", "All Nature, without voice or sound,", " Repli'd, \"O Lord, THOU ART.\"", "", " XLI", "Thou art—to give and to confirm,", "For each his talent and his term;", " All flesh thy bounties share:", "Thou shalt not call thy brother fool;", "The porches of the Christian school", " Are meekness, peace, and pray'r.", "", " XLII", "Open, and naked of offence,", "Man's made of mercy, soul, and sense;", " God arm'd the snail and wilk;", "Be good to him that pulls thy plough;", "Due food and care, due rest, allow", " For her that yields thee milk.", "", " XLIII", "Rise up before the hoary head,", "And God's benign commandment dread,", " Which says thou shalt not die:", "\"Not as I will, but as Thou wilt,\"", "Pray'd He Whose conscience knew no guilt;", " With Whose bless'd pattern vie.", "", " XLIV", "Use all thy passions!—love is thine,", "And joy, and jealousy divine;", " Thine hope's eternal fort,", "And care thy leisure to disturb,", "With fear concupiscence to curb,", " And rapture to transport.", "", " XLV", "Act simply, as occasion asks;", "Put mellow wine in season'd casks;", " Till not with ass and bull:", "Remember thy baptismal bond;", "Keep from commixtures foul and fond,", " Nor work thy flax with wool.", "", " XLVI", "Distribute: pay the Lord His tithe,", "And make the widow's heart-strings blythe;", " Resort with those that weep:", "As you from all and each expect,", "For all and each thy love direct,", " And render as you reap.", "", " XLVII", "The slander and its bearer spurn,", "And propagating praise sojourn", " To make thy welcome last;", "Turn from Old Adam to the New;", "By hope futurity pursue;", " Look upwards to the past.", "", " XLVIII", "Control thine eye, salute success,", "Honor the wiser, happier bless,", " And for thy neighbor feel;", "Grutch not of Mammon and his leav'n,", "Work emulation up to heav'n", " By knowledge and by zeal.", "", " XLIX", "O DAVID, highest in the list", "Of worthies, on God's ways insist,", " The genuine word repeat:", "Vain are the documents of men,", "And vain the flourish of the pen", " That keeps the fool's conceit.", "", " L", "PRAISE above all—for praise prevails;", "Heap up the measure, load the scales,", " And good to goodness add:", "The gen'rous soul her Saviour aids,", "But peevish obloquy degrades;", " The Lord is great and glad.", "", " LI", "For ADORATION all the ranks", "Of angels yield eternal thanks,", " And DAVID in the midst;", "With God's good poor, which last and least", "In man's esteem, thou to thy feast,", " O blessed bridegroom, bidst.", " LII", "For ADORATION seasons change,", "And order, truth, and beauty range,", " Adjust, attract, and fill:", "The grass the polyanthus checks;", "And polish'd porphyry reflects,", " By the descending rill.", "", " LIII", "rich almonds color to the prime", "For ADORATION; tendrils climb,", " And fruit-trees pledge their gems;", "And Ivis with her gorgeous vest,", "Builds for her eggs her cunning nest,", " And bell-flowers bow their stems.", "", " LIV", "With vinous syrup cedars spout;", "From rocks pure honey gushing out,", " For ADORATION springs;", "All scenes of painting crowd the map", "Of nature; to the mermaid's pap", " The scaled infant clings.", "", " LV", "The spotted ounce and playsome cubs", "Run rustling 'mongst the flow'ring shrubs,", " And lizards feed the moss;", "For ADORATION beasts embark,", "While waves upholding halcyon's ark", " No longer roar and toss.", "", " LVI", "While Israel sits beneath his fig,", "With coral root and amber sprig", " The wean'd advent'rer sports;", "Where to the palm the jasmine cleaves,", "For ADORATION 'mongst the leaves", " The gale his peace reports.", "", " LVII", "Increasing days their reign exalt,", "Nor in the pink and mottled vault", " The opposing spirits tilt;", "And, by the coasting reader spi'd,", "The silverlings and crusions glide", " For ADORATION gilt.", "", " LVIII", "For ADORATION rip'ning canes", "And cocoa's purest milk detains", " The western pilgrim's staff;", "Where rain in clasping boughs enclos'd,", "And vines with oranges dispos'd,", " Embow'r the social laugh.", "", " LIX", "Now labor his reward receives,", "For ADORATION counts his sheaves", " To peace, her bounteous prince;", "The nect'rine his strong tint imbibes,", "And apples of ten thousand tribes,", " And quick peculiar quince.", "", " LX", "The wealthy crops of whit'ning rice,", "'Mongst thyme woods and groves of spice,", " For ADORATION grow;", "And, marshall'd in the fenced land,", "The peaches and pom'granates stand,", " Where wild carnations blow.", "", " LXI", "The laurels with the winter strive;", "The crocus burnishes alive", " Upon the snow-clad earth:", "For ADORATION myrtles stay", "To keep the garden from dismay,", " And bless the sight from dearth.", "", " LXII", "The pheasant shows his pompous neck;", "The ermine, jealous of a speck,", " With fear eldues offence:", "The sable, with his glossy pride,", "For ADORATION is describ'd,", " Where frosts the waves condense.", "", " LXIII", "The cheerful holly, pensive yew,", "And holy thorn, their trim renew;", " The squirrel hoards his nuts;", "All creatures batten o'er their stores,", "And careful nature all her doors", " For ADORATION shuts.", "", " LXIV", "For ADORATION, DAVID's psalms", "Life up the heart to deeds of alms;", " And he, who kneels and chants,", "Prevails his passions to control,", "Finds meat and med'cine to the soul,", " Which for translation pants.", "", " LXV", "For ADORATION, beyond match,", "The scholar bullfinch aims to catch", " The soft flute's iv'ry touch;", "And, careless on the hazel spray,", "The daring redbreast keeps at bay", " The damsel's greedy clutch.", "", " LXVI", "For ADORATION in the skies,", "The Lord's philosopher espies", " The Dog, the Ram, and Rose;", "The planet's ring, Orion's sword;", "Nor is his greatness less ador'd", " In the vile worm that glows.", "", " LXVII", "For ADORATION, on the strings", "The western breezes work their wings,", " The captive ear to sooth.", "Hark! 'Tis a voice—how still, and small—", "That makes the cataracts to fall,", " Or bids the sea be smooth!", "", " LXVIII", "For ADORATION, incense comes", "From bezoar, and Arabian gums;", " And from the civet's fur:", "But as for prayer, or e'er it faints,", "Far better is the breath of saints", " Than galbanum and myrrh.", "", " LXIX", "For ADORATION from the down", "Of dam'sins to th'anana's crown,", " God sends to tempt the taste;", "And while the luscious zest invites,", "The sense, that in the scene delights,", " Commands desire be chaste.", "", " LXX", "For ADORATION, all the paths", "Of grace are open, all the baths", " Of purity refresh;", "And all the rays of glory beam", "To deck the man of God's esteem,", " Who triumphs o'er the flesh.", "", " LXXI", "For ADORATION, in the dome", "Of Christ, the sparrows find a home;", " And on His olives perch:", "The swallow also dwells with thee,", "O man of God's humility,", " Within his Saviour CHURCH.", "", " LXXII", "Sweet is the dew that falls betimes,", "And drops upon the leafy limes;", " Sweet, Hermon's fragrant air:", "Sweet is the lily's silver bell,", "And sweet the wakeful tapers smell", " That watch for early pray'r.", "", " LXXIII", "Sweet the young nurse with love intense,", "Which smiles o'er sleeping innocence;", " Sweet when the lost arrive:", "Sweet the musician's ardour beats,", "While his vague mind's in quest of sweets,", " The choicest flow'rs to hive.", "", " LXXIV", "Sweeter in all the strains of love,", "The language of thy turtle dove,", " Pair'd to thy swelling chord;", "Sweeter, with ev'ry grace endu'd,", "The glory of thy gratitude,", " Respir'd unto the Lord.", "", " LXXV", "Strong is the horse upon his speed;", "Strong in pursuit the rapid glede,", " Which makes at once his game:", "Strong the tall ostrich on the ground;", "Strong through the turbulent profound", " Shoots xiphias to his aim.", "", " LXXVI", "Strong is the lion—like a coal", "His eyeball—like a bastion's mole", " His chest against his foes:", "Strong, the gier-eagle on his sail,", "Strong against tide, th'enormous whale", " Emerges as he goes.", "", " LXXVII", "But stronger still in earth and air,", "And in the sea, the man of pray'r;", " And far beneath the tide;", "And in the seat to faith assign'd,", "Where ask is have, where seek is find,", " Where knock is open wide.", "", " LXXVIII", "Beauteous the fleet before the gale;", "Beauteous the multitudes in mail,", " Rank'd arms and crested heads:", "Beauteous the garden's umbrage mild,", "Walk, water, meditated wild,", " And all the bloomy beds.", "", " LXXIX", "Beauteous the moon full on the lawn;", "And beauteous, when the veil's withdrawn,", " The virgin to her spouse:", "Beauteous the temple, deck'd and fill'd,", "When to the heav'n of heav'ns they build", " Their heart-directed vows.", "", " LXXX", "Beauteous, yea beauteous more than these,", "The shepherd king upon his knees,", " For his momentous trust;", "With wish of infinite conceit,", "For man, beast, mute, the small and great,", " And prostrate dust to dust.", "", " LXXXI", "Precious the bounteous widow's mite;", "And precious, for extreme delight,", " The largess from the churl:", "Precious the ruby's blushing blaze,", "And alba's blest imperial rays,", " And pure cerulean pearl.", "", " LXXXII", "Precious the penitential tear;", "And precious is the sigh sincere;", " Acceptable to God:", "And precious are the winning flow'rs,", "In gladsome Israel's feast of bow'rs,", " Bound on the hallow'd sod.", "", " LXXXIII", "More precious that diviner part", "Of David, ev'n the Lord's own heart,", " Great, beautiful, and new:", "In all things where it was intent,", "In all extremes, in each event,", " Proof—answ'ring true to true.", "", " LXXXIV", "Glorious the sun in mid career;", "Glorious th'assembled fires appear;", " Glorious the comet's train:", "Glorious the trumpet and alarm;", "Glorious th'almighty stretch'd-out arm;", " Glorious th'enraptur'd main:", "", " LXXXV", "Glorious the northern lights a-stream;", "Glorious the song, when God's the theme;", " Glorious the thunder's roar:", "Glorious hosanna from the den;", "Glorious the catholic amen;", " Glorious the martyr's gore:", "", " LXXXVI", "Glorious—more glorious, is the crown", "Of Him that brought salvation down,", " By meekness, call'd thy Son:", "Thou at stupendous truth believ'd;—", "And now the matchless deed's achiev'd,", " DETERMIN'D, DAR'D, AND DONE." ], "linecount": "602" }, { "title": "The Moon Maiden's Song", "author": "Ernest Dowson", "lines": [ "Sleep! Cast thy canopy", " Over this sleeper's brain,", "Dim grow his memory,", " When he wake again.", "", "Love stays a summer night,", " Till lights of morning come;", "Then takes her winged flight", " Back to her starry home.", "", "Sleep! Yet thy days are mine;", " Love's seal is over thee:", "Far though my ways from thine,", " Dim though thy memory.", "", "Love stays a summer night,", " Till lights of morning come;", "Then takes her winged flight", " Back to her starry home." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Easter Song", "author": "George Herbert", "lines": [ "I Got me flowers to straw Thy way,", "I got me boughs off many a tree;", "But Thou wast up by break of day,", "And brought’st Thy sweets along with Thee.", "", "The sunne arising in the East,", "Though he give light, and th’ East perfume,", "If they should offer to contest", "With Thy arising, they presume.", "", "Can there be any day but this,", "Though many sunnes to shine endeavour?", "We count three hundred, but we misse:", "There is but one, and that one ever." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Song of Hiawatha: X", "author": "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow", "lines": [ "X. Hiawatha's Wooing", "", "\"As unto the bow the cord is,", "So unto the man is woman,", "Though she bends him, she obeys him,", "Though she draws him, yet she follows,", "Useless each without the other!\"", "", "Thus the youthful Hiawatha", "Said within himself and pondered,", "Much perplexed by various feelings,", "Listless, longing, hoping, fearing,", "Dreaming still of Minnehaha,", "Of the lovely Laughing Water,", "In the land of the Dacotahs.", "", "\"Wed a maiden of your people,\"", "Warning said the old Nokomis;", "\"Go not eastward, go not westward,", "For a stranger, whom we know not!", "Like a fire upon the hearth-stone", "Is a neighbor's homely daughter,", "Like the starlight or the moonlight", "Is the handsomest of strangers!\"", "", "Thus dissuading spake Nokomis,", "And my Hiawatha answered", "Only this: \"Dear old Nokomis,", "Very pleasant is the firelight,", "But I like the starlight better,", "Better do I like the moonlight!\"", "", "Gravely then said old Nokomis:", "\"Bring not here an idle maiden,", "Bring not here a useless woman,", "Hands unskilful, feet unwilling;", "Bring a wife with nimble fingers,", "Heart and hand that move together,", "Feet that run on willing errands!\"", "", "Smiling answered Hiawatha:", "\"In the land of the Dacotahs", "Lives the Arrow-maker's daughter,", "Minnehaha, Laughing Water,", "Handsomest of all the women.", "I will bring her to your wigwam,", "She shall run upon your errands,", "Be your starlight, moonlight, firelight,", "Be the sunlight of my people!\"", "", "Still dissuading said Nokomis:", "\"Bring not to my lodge a stranger", "From the land of the Dacotahs!", "Very fierce are the Dacotahs,", "Often is there war between us,", "There are feuds yet unforgotten,", "Wounds that ache and still may open!", "", "Laughing answered Hiawatha:", "\"For that reason, if no other,", "Would I wed the fair Dacotah,", "That our tribes might be united,", "That old feuds might be forgotten,", "And old wounds be healed forever!\"", "", "Thus departed Hiawatha", "To the land of the Dacotahs,", "To the land of handsome women;", "Striding over moor and meadow,", "Through interminable forests,", "Through uninterrupted silence.", "", "With his moccasins of magic,", "At each stride a mile he measured;", "Yet the way seemed long before him,", "And his heart outran his footsteps;", "And he journeyed without resting,", "Till he heard the cataract's laughter,", "Heard the Falls of Minnehaha", "Calling to him through the silence.", "\"Pleasant is the sound!\" he murmured,", "\"Pleasant is the voice that calls me!\"", "", "On the outskirts of the forests,", "'Twixt the shadow and the sunshine,", "Herds of fallow deer were feeding,", "But they saw not Hiawatha;", "To his bow be whispered, \"Fail not!\"", "To his arrow whispered, \"Swerve not!\"", "Sent it singing on its errand,", "To the red heart of the roebuck;", "Threw the deer across his shoulder,", "And sped forward without pausing.", "", "At the doorway of his wigwam", "Sat his ancient Arrow-maker,", "In the land of the Dacotahs,", "Making arrow-heads of jasper,", "Arrow-heads of chalcedony.", "At his side, in all her beauty,", "Sat the lovely Minnehaha,", "Sat his daughter, Laughing Water,", "Plaiting mats of flags and rushes;", "Of the past the old man's thoughts were,", "And the maiden's of the future.", "", "He was thinking, as he sat there,", "Of the days when with such arrows", "He had struck the deer and bison,", "On the Muskoday, the meadow;", "Shot the wild goose, flying southward,", "On the wing, the clamorous Wawa;", "Thinking of the great war-parties,", "How they came to buy his arrows,", "Could not fight without his arrows.", "Ah, no more such noble warriors", "Could be found on earth as they were!", "Now the men were all like women,", "Only used their tongues for weapons!", "", "She was thinking of a hunter,", "From another tribe and country,", "Young and tall and very handsome,", "Who one morning, in the Spring-time,", "Came to buy her father's arrows,", "Lingered long about the doorway,", "Sat and rested in the wigwam,", "Looking back as he departed.", "She had heard her father praise him,", "Praise his courage and his wisdom;", "Would he come again for arrows", "To the Falls of Minnehaha?", "On the mat her hands lay idle,", "And her eyes were very dreamy.", "", "Through their thoughts they heard a footstep,", "Heard a rustling in the branches,", "And with glowing cheek and forehead,", "With the deer upon his shoulders,", "Suddenly from out the woodlands", "Hiawatha stood before them.", "", "Straight the ancient Arrow-maker", "Looked up gravely from his labor,", "Laid aside the unfinished arrow,", "Bade him enter at the doorway,", "Saying, as he rose to meet him,", "\"Hiawatha, you are welcome!\"", "", "At the feet of Laughing Water", "Hiawatha laid his burden,", "Threw the red deer from his shoulders;", "And the maiden looked up at him,", "Looked up from her mat of rushes,", "Said with gentle look and accent,", "\"You are welcome, Hiawatha!\"", "", "Very spacious was the wigwam,", "Made of deer-skins dressed and whitened,", "With the Gods of the Dacotahs", "Drawn and painted on its curtains,", "And so tall the doorway, hardly", "Hiawatha stooped to enter,", "Hardly touched his eagle-feathers", "As he entered at the doorway.", "", "Then uprose the Laughing Water,", "From the ground fair Minnehaha,", "Laid aside her mat unfinished,", "Brought forth food and set before them,", "Water brought them from the brooklet,", "Gave them food in earthen vessels,", "Gave them drink in bowls of bass-wood,", "Listened while the guest was speaking,", "Listened while her father answered,", "But not once her lips she opened,", "Not a single word she uttered.", "", "Yes, as in a dream she listened", "To the words of Hiawatha,", "As he talked of old Nokomis,", "Who had nursed him in his childhood,", "As he told of his companions,", "Chibiabos, the musician,", "And the very strong man, Kwasind,", "And of happiness and plenty", "In the land of the Ojibways,", "In the pleasant land and peaceful.", "", "\"After many years of warfare,", "Many years of strife and bloodshed,", "There is peace between the Ojibways", "And the tribe of the Dacotahs.\"", "Thus continued Hiawatha,", "And then added, speaking slowly,", "'That this peace may last forever,", "And our hands be clasped more closely,", "And our hearts be more united,", "Give me as my wife this maiden,", "Minnehaha, Laughing Water,", "Loveliest of Dacotah women!", "", "And the ancient Arrow-maker", "Paused a moment ere he answered,", "Smoked a little while in silence,", "Looked at Hiawatha proudly,", "Fondly looked at Laughing Water,", "And made answer very gravely:", "\"Yes, if Minnehaha wishes;", "Let your heart speak, Minnehaha!\"", "", "And the lovely Laughing Water", "Seemed more lovely as she stood there,", "Neither willing nor reluctant,", "As she went to Hiawatha,", "Softly took the seat beside him,", "While she said, and blushed to say it,", "\"I will follow you, my husband!\"", "", "This was Hiawatha's wooing!", "Thus it was he won the daughter", "Of the ancient Arrow-maker,", "In the land of the Dacotahs!", "", "From the wigwam he departed,", "Leading with him Laughing Water;", "Hand in hand they went together,", "Through the woodland and the meadow,", "Left the old man standing lonely", "At the doorway of his wigwam,", "Heard the Falls of Minnehaha", "Calling to them from the distance,", "Crying to them from afar off,", "\"Fare thee well, O Minnehaha!\"", "", "And the ancient Arrow-maker", "Turned again unto his labor,", "Sat down by his sunny doorway,", "Murmuring to himself, and saying:", "\"Thus it is our daughters leave us,", "Those we love, and those who love us!", "Just when they have learned to help us,", "When we are old and lean upon them,", "Comes a youth with flaunting feathers,", "With his flute of reeds, a stranger", "Wanders piping through the village,", "Beckons to the fairest maiden,", "And she follows where he leads her,", "Leaving all things for the stranger!\"", "", "Pleasant was the journey homeward,", "Through interminable forests,", "Over meadow, over mountain,", "Over river, hill, and hollow.", "Short it seemed to Hiawatha,", "Though they journeyed very slowly,", "Though his pace he checked and slackened", "To the steps of Laughing Water.", "", "Over wide and rushing rivers", "In his arms he bore the maiden;", "Light he thought her as a feather,", "As the plume upon his head-gear;", "Cleared the tangled pathway for her,", "Bent aside the swaying branches,", "Made at night a lodge of branches,", "And a bed with boughs of hemlock,", "And a fire before the doorway", "With the dry cones of the pine-tree.", "", "All the travelling winds went with them,", "O'er the meadows, through the forest;", "All the stars of night looked at them,", "Watched with sleepless eyes their slumber;", "From his ambush in the oak-tree", "Peeped the squirrel, Adjidaumo,", "Watched with eager eyes the lovers;", "And the rabbit, the Wabasso,", "Scampered from the path before them,", "Peering, peeping from his burrow,", "Sat erect upon his haunches,", "Watched with curious eyes the lovers.", "", "Pleasant was the journey homeward!", "All the birds sang loud and sweetly", "Songs of happiness and heart's-ease;", "Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa,", "\"Happy are you, Hiawatha,", "Having such a wife to love you!\"", "Sang the robin, the Opechee,", "\"Happy are you, Laughing Water,", "Having such a noble husband!\"", "", "From the sky the sun benignant", "Looked upon them through the branches,", "Saying to them, \"O my children,", "Love is sunshine, hate is shadow,", "Life is checkered shade and sunshine,", "Rule by love, O Hiawatha!\"", "", "From the sky the moon looked at them,", "Filled the lodge with mystic splendors,", "Whispered to them, \"O my children,", "Day is restless, night is quiet,", "Man imperious, woman feeble;", "Half is mine, although I follow;", "Rule by patience, Laughing Water!\"", "", "Thus it was they journeyed homeward;", "Thus it was that Hiawatha", "To the lodge of old Nokomis", "Brought the moonlight, starlight, firelight,", "Brought the sunshine of his people,", "Minnehaha, Laughing Water,", "Handsomest of all the women", "In the land of the Dacotahs,", "In the land of handsome women." ], "linecount": "284" }, { "title": "Introduction To The Song Of Hiawatha", "author": "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow", "lines": [ "Should you ask me,", "whence these stories?", "Whence these legends and traditions,", "With the odors of the forest", "With the dew and damp of meadows,", "With the curling smoke of wigwams,", "With the rushing of great rivers,", "With their frequent repetitions,", "And their wild reverberations", "As of thunder in the mountains?", "I should answer, I should tell you,", "\"From the forests and the prairies,", "From the great lakes of the Northland,", "From the land of the Ojibways,", "From the land of the Dacotahs,", "From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands", "Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,", "Feeds among the reeds and rushes.", "I repeat them as I heard them", "From the lips of Nawadaha,", "The musician, the sweet singer.\"", "Should you ask where Nawadaha", "Found these songs so wild and wayward,", "Found these legends and traditions,", "I should answer, I should tell you,", "\"In the bird's-nests of the forest,", "In the lodges of the beaver,", "In the hoofprint of the bison,", "In the eyry of the eagle!", "\"All the wild-fowl sang them to him,", "In the moorlands and the fen-lands,", "In the melancholy marshes;", "Chetowaik, the plover, sang them,", "Mahng, the loon, the wild-goose, Wawa,", "The blue heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,", "And the grouse, the Mushkodasa!\"", "If still further you should ask me,", "Saying, \"Who was Nawadaha?", "Tell us of this Nawadaha,\"", "I should answer your inquiries", "Straightway in such words as follow.", "\"In the vale of Tawasentha,", "In the green and silent valley,", "By the pleasant water-courses,", "Dwelt the singer Nawadaha.", "Round about the Indian village", "Spread the meadows and the corn-fields,", "And beyond them stood the forest,", "Stood the groves of singing pine-trees,", "Green in Summer, white in Winter,", "Ever sighing, ever singing.", "\"And the pleasant water-courses,", "You could trace them through the valley,", "By the rushing in the Spring-time,", "By the alders in the Summer,", "By the white fog in the Autumn,", "By the black line in the Winter;", "And beside them dwelt the singer,", "In the vale of Tawasentha,", "In the green and silent valley.", "\"There he sang of Hiawatha,", "Sang the Song of Hiawatha,", "Sang his wondrous birth and being,", "How he prayed and how be fasted,", "How he lived, and toiled, and suffered,", "That the tribes of men might prosper,", "That he might advance his people!\"", "Ye who love the haunts of Nature,", "Love the sunshine of the meadow,", "Love the shadow of the forest,", "Love the wind among the branches,", "And the rain-shower and the snow-storm,", "And the rushing of great rivers", "Through their palisades of pine-trees,", "And the thunder in the mountains,", "Whose innumerable echoes", "Flap like eagles in their eyries;-", "Listen to these wild traditions,", "To this Song of Hiawatha!", "Ye who love a nation's legends,", "Love the ballads of a people,", "That like voices from afar off", "Call to us to pause and listen,", "Speak in tones so plain and childlike,", "Scarcely can the ear distinguish", "Whether they are sung or spoken;-", "Listen to this Indian Legend,", "To this Song of Hiawatha!", "Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,", "Who have faith in God and Nature,", "Who believe that in all ages", "Every human heart is human,", "That in even savage bosoms", "There are longings, yearnings, strivings", "For the good they comprehend not,", "That the feeble hands and helpless,", "Groping blindly in the darkness,", "Touch God's right hand in that darkness", "And are lifted up and strengthened;-", "Listen to this simple story,", "To this Song of Hiawatha!", "Ye, who sometimes, in your rambles", "Through the green lanes of the country,", "Where the tangled barberry-bushes", "Hang their tufts of crimson berries", "Over stone walls gray with mosses,", "Pause by some neglected graveyard,", "For a while to muse, and ponder", "On a half-effaced inscription,", "Written with little skill of song-craft,", "Homely phrases, but each letter", "Full of hope and yet of heart-break,", "Full of all the tender pathos", "Of the Here and the Hereafter;", "Stay and read this rude inscription,", "Read this Song of Hiawatha!" ], "linecount": "116" }, { "title": "Song of Fairies Robbing an Orchard", "author": "James Henry Leigh Hunt", "lines": [ "We, the Fairies, blithe and antic,", "Of dimensions not gigantic,", "Though the moonshine mostly keep us,", "Oft in orchards frisk and peep us.", "", "Stolen sweets are always sweeter,", "Stolen kisses much completer,", "Stolen looks are nice in chapels,", "Stolen, stolen, be your apples.", "", "When to bed the world are bobbing,", "Then's the time for orchard-robbing;", "Yet the fruit were scarce worth peeling,", "Were it not for stealing, stealing." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Song of Yesterday", "author": "James Whitcomb Riley", "lines": [ "I", "But yesterday", "I looked away", "O'er happy lands, where sunshine lay", "In golden blots,", "Inlaid with spots", "Of shade and wild forget-me-nots.", "", "My head was fair", "With flaxen hair,", "And fragrant breezes, faint and rare,", "And, warm with drouth", "From out the south,", "Blew all my curls across my mouth.", "", "And, cool and sweet,", "My naked feet", "Found dewy pathways through the wheat;", "And out again", "Where, down the lane,", "The dust was dimpled with the rain.", "", "II", "But yesterday! --", "Adream, astray,", "From morning's red to evening's dray,", "O'er dales and hills", "Of daffodils", "And lorn sweet-fluting whippoorwills.", "", "I knew nor cares", "Nor tears nor prayers --", "A mortal god, crowned unawares", "With sunset -- and", "A scepter-wand", "Of apple-blossoms in my hand!", "", "The dewy blue", "Of twilight grew", "To purple, with a star or two", "Whose lisping rays", "Failed in the blaze", "Of sudden fireflies through the haze.", "", "III", "But yesterday", "I heard the lay", "Of summer birds, when I, as they", "With breast and wing,", "All quivering", "With life and love, could only sing.", "", "My head was leant", "Where, with it, blent", "A maiden's, o'er her instrument;", "While all the night,", "From vale to height,", "Was filled with echoes of delight.", "", "And all our dreams", "Were lit with gleams", "Of that lost land of reedy streams,", "Along whose brim", "Forever swim", "Pan's lilies, laughing up at him.", "", "IV", "But yesterday! . . .", "O blooms of May,", "And summer roses -- where away?", "O stars above;", "And lips of love,", "And all the honeyed sweets thereof! --", "", "O lad and lass,", "And orchard pass,", "And briered lane, and daisied grass!", "O gleam and gloom,", "And woodland bloom,", "And breezy breaths of all perfume! --", "", "No more for me", "Or mine shall be", "Thy raptures -- save in memory, --", "No more -- no more --", "Till through the Door", "Of Glory gleam the days of yore." ], "linecount": "76" }, { "title": "A Song of the Road", "author": "James Whitcomb Riley", "lines": [ "O I will walk with you, my lad, whichever way you fare,", "You'll have me, too, the side o' you, with heart as light as air;", "No care for where the road you take's a-leadin' anywhere,--", "It can but be a joyful ja'nt whilst you journey there.", "The road you take's the path o' love, an' that's the bridth o' two--", "An' I will walk with you, my lad -- O I will walk with you.", "", "Ho! I will walk with you, my lad,", "Be weather black or blue", "Or roadsides frost or dew, my lad --", "O I will walk with you.", "", "Aye, glad, my lad, I'll walk with you, whatever winds may blow,", "Or summer blossoms stay our steps, or blinding drifts of snow;", "The way thay you set face an' foot 's the way that I will go,", "An' brave I'll be, abreast o' ye, the Saints and Angels know!", "With loyal hand in loyal hand, an' one heart made o' two,", "Through summer's gold, or winter's cold, It's I will walk with you.", "", "Sure, I will walk with you, my lad,", "A love ordains me to,--", "To Heaven's door, an' through, my lad.", "O I will walk with you." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Song (Go And Catch A Falling Star)", "author": "John Donne", "lines": [ "Go and catch a falling star,", "Get with child a mandrake root,", "Tell me where all past years are,", "Or who cleft the Devil's foot,", "Teach me to hear mermaids singing,", "Or to keep off envy's stinging,", "And find", "What wind", "Serves to advance an honest mind.", "", "If thou be'st born to strange sights,", "Things invisible to see,", "Ride ten thousand days and nights,", "Till age snow white hairs on thee;", "Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me", "All strange wonders that befell thee,", "And swear", "No where", "Lives a woman true, and fair.", "", "If thou find'st one, let me know,", "Such a pilgrimage were sweet;", "Yet do not, I would not go,", "Though at next door we might meet:", "Though she were true, when you met her,", "And last, till you write your letter,", "Yet she", "Will be", "False, ere I come, to two or three." ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "Song From Marriage-A-La-Mode", "author": "John Dryden", "lines": [ "Why should a foolish marriage vow,", "Which long ago was made,", "Oblige us to each other now,", "When passion is decayed?", "We loved, and we loved, as long as we could,", "Till our love was loved out in us both;", "But our marriage is dead when the pleasure is fled:", "'Twas pleasure first made it an oath.", "", "If I have pleasures for a friend,", "And farther love in store,", "What wrong has he whose joys did end,", "And who could give no more?", "'Tis a madness that he should be jealous of me,", "Or that I should bar him of another;", "For all we can gain is to give ourselves pain,", "When neither can hinder the other." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Song To A Fair Young Lady Going Out Of Town In The Spring", "author": "John Dryden", "lines": [ "Ask not the cause why sullen spring", " So long delays her flow'rs to bear;", "Why warbling birds forget to sing,", " And winter storms invert the year?", "Chloris is gone; and Fate provides", "To make it spring where she resides.", "", "Chloris is gone, the cruel fair;", " She cast not back a pitying eye:", "But left her lover in despair,", " To sigh, to languish, and to die:", "Ah, how can those fair eyes endure", "To give the wounds they will not cure!", "", "Great god of Love, why hast thou made", " A face that can all hearts command,", "That all religions can invade,", " And change the laws of ev'ry land?", "Where thou hadst plac'd such pow'r before,", "Thou shouldst have made her mercy more.", "", "When Chloris to the temple comes,", " Adoring crowds before her fall;", "She can restore the dead from tombs,", " And ev'ry life but mine recall.", "I only am by love design'd", "To be the victim for mankind." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Song of the Indian Maid, from 'Endymion'", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "O SORROW!", " Why dost borrow", " The natural hue of health, from vermeil lips?--", " To give maiden blushes", " To the white rose bushes?", " Or is it thy dewy hand the daisy tips?", "", " O Sorrow!", " Why dost borrow", " The lustrous passion from a falcon-eye?--", " To give the glow-worm light?", " Or, on a moonless night,", " To tinge, on siren shores, the salt sea-spry?", "", " O Sorrow!", " Why dost borrow", " The mellow ditties from a mourning tongue?--", " To give at evening pale", " Unto the nightingale,", " That thou mayst listen the cold dews among?", "", " O Sorrow!", " Why dost borrow", " Heart's lightness from the merriment of May?--", " A lover would not tread", " A cowslip on the head,", " Though he should dance from eve till peep of day--", " Nor any drooping flower", " Held sacred for thy bower,", " Wherever he may sport himself and play.", "", " To Sorrow", " I bade good morrow,", " And thought to leave her far away behind;", " But cheerly, cheerly,", " She loves me dearly;", " She is so constant to me, and so kind:", " I would deceive her", " And so leave her,", " But ah! she is so constant and so kind.", "", "Beneath my palm-trees, by the river side,", "I sat a-weeping: in the whole world wide", "There was no one to ask me why I wept,--", " And so I kept", "Brimming the water-lily cups with tears", " Cold as my fears.", "", "Beneath my palm-trees, by the river side,", "I sat a-weeping: what enamour'd bride,", "Cheated by shadowy wooer from the clouds,", " But hides and shrouds", "Beneath dark palm-trees by a river side?", "", "And as I sat, over the light blue hills", "There came a noise of revellers: the rills", "Into the wide stream came of purple hue--", " 'Twas Bacchus and his crew!", "The earnest trumpet spake, and silver thrills", "From kissing cymbals made a merry din--", " 'Twas Bacchus and his kin!", "Like to a moving vintage down they came,", "Crown'd with green leaves, and faces all on flame;", "All madly dancing through the pleasant valley,", " To scare thee, Melancholy!", "O then, O then, thou wast a simple name!", "And I forgot thee, as the berried holly", "By shepherds is forgotten, when in June", "Tall chestnuts keep away the sun and moon:--", " I rush'd into the folly!", "", "Within his car, aloft, young Bacchus stood,", "Trifling his ivy-dart, in dancing mood,", " With sidelong laughing;", "And little rills of crimson wine imbrued", "His plump white arms and shoulders, enough white", " For Venus' pearly bite;", "And near him rode Silenus on his ass,", "Pelted with flowers as he on did pass", " Tipsily quaffing.", "", "'Whence came ye, merry Damsels! whence came ye,", "So many, and so many, and such glee?", "Why have ye left your bowers desolate,", " Your lutes, and gentler fate?'--", "'We follow Bacchus! Bacchus on the wing,", " A-conquering!", "Bacchus, young Bacchus! good or ill betide,", "We dance before him thorough kingdoms wide:--", "Come hither, lady fair, and joined be", " To our wild minstrelsy!'", "", "'Whence came ye, jolly Satyrs! whence came ye,", "So many, and so many, and such glee?", "Why have ye left your forest haunts, why left", " Your nuts in oak-tree cleft?'--", "'For wine, for wine we left our kernel tree;", "For wine we left our heath, and yellow brooms,", " And cold mushrooms;", "For wine we follow Bacchus through the earth;", "Great god of breathless cups and chirping mirth!", "Come hither, lady fair, and joined be", " To our mad minstrelsy!'", "", "Over wide streams and mountains great we went,", "And, save when Bacchus kept his ivy tent,", "Onward the tiger and the leopard pants,", " With Asian elephants:", "Onward these myriads--with song and dance,", "With zebras striped, and sleek Arabians' prance,", "Web-footed alligators, crocodiles,", "Bearing upon their scaly backs, in files,", "Plump infant laughers mimicking the coil", "Of seamen, and stout galley-rowers' toil:", "With toying oars and silken sails they glide,", " Nor care for wind and tide.", "", "Mounted on panthers' furs and lions' manes,", "From rear to van they scour about the plains;", "A three days' journey in a moment done;", "And always, at the rising of the sun,", "About the wilds they hunt with spear and horn,", " On spleenful unicorn.", "", "I saw Osirian Egypt kneel adown", " Before the vine-wreath crown!", "I saw parch'd Abyssinia rouse and sing", " To the silver cymbals' ring!", "I saw the whelming vintage hotly pierce", " Old Tartary the fierce!", "The kings of Ind their jewel-sceptres vail,", "And from their treasures scatter pearled hail;", "Great Brahma from his mystic heaven groans,", " And all his priesthood moans,", "Before young Bacchus' eye-wink turning pale.", "Into these regions came I, following him,", "Sick-hearted, weary--so I took a whim", "To stray away into these forests drear,", " Alone, without a peer:", "And I have told thee all thou mayest hear.", "", " Young Stranger!", " I've been a ranger", "In search of pleasure throughout every clime;", " Alas! 'tis not for me!", " Bewitch'd I sure must be,", "To lose in grieving all my maiden prime.", "", " Come then, Sorrow,", " Sweetest Sorrow!", "Like an own babe I nurse thee on my breast:", " I thought to leave thee,", " And deceive thee,", "But now of all the world I love thee best.", "", " There is not one,", " No, no, not one", "But thee to comfort a poor lonely maid;", " Thou art her mother,", " And her brother,", "Her playmate, and her wooer in the shade." ], "linecount": "145" }, { "title": "Song of the Indian Maid, from 'Endymion'", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "O SORROW!", " Why dost borrow", " The natural hue of health, from vermeil lips?--", " To give maiden blushes", " To the white rose bushes?", " Or is it thy dewy hand the daisy tips?", "", " O Sorrow!", " Why dost borrow", " The lustrous passion from a falcon-eye?--", " To give the glow-worm light?", " Or, on a moonless night,", " To tinge, on siren shores, the salt sea-spry?", "", " O Sorrow!", " Why dost borrow", " The mellow ditties from a mourning tongue?--", " To give at evening pale", " Unto the nightingale,", " That thou mayst listen the cold dews among?", "", " O Sorrow!", " Why dost borrow", " Heart's lightness from the merriment of May?--", " A lover would not tread", " A cowslip on the head,", " Though he should dance from eve till peep of day--", " Nor any drooping flower", " Held sacred for thy bower,", " Wherever he may sport himself and play.", "", " To Sorrow", " I bade good morrow,", " And thought to leave her far away behind;", " But cheerly, cheerly,", " She loves me dearly;", " She is so constant to me, and so kind:", " I would deceive her", " And so leave her,", " But ah! she is so constant and so kind.", "", "Beneath my palm-trees, by the river side,", "I sat a-weeping: in the whole world wide", "There was no one to ask me why I wept,--", " And so I kept", "Brimming the water-lily cups with tears", " Cold as my fears.", "", "Beneath my palm-trees, by the river side,", "I sat a-weeping: what enamour'd bride,", "Cheated by shadowy wooer from the clouds,", " But hides and shrouds", "Beneath dark palm-trees by a river side?", "", "And as I sat, over the light blue hills", "There came a noise of revellers: the rills", "Into the wide stream came of purple hue--", " 'Twas Bacchus and his crew!", "The earnest trumpet spake, and silver thrills", "From kissing cymbals made a merry din--", " 'Twas Bacchus and his kin!", "Like to a moving vintage down they came,", "Crown'd with green leaves, and faces all on flame;", "All madly dancing through the pleasant valley,", " To scare thee, Melancholy!", "O then, O then, thou wast a simple name!", "And I forgot thee, as the berried holly", "By shepherds is forgotten, when in June", "Tall chestnuts keep away the sun and moon:--", " I rush'd into the folly!", "", "Within his car, aloft, young Bacchus stood,", "Trifling his ivy-dart, in dancing mood,", " With sidelong laughing;", "And little rills of crimson wine imbrued", "His plump white arms and shoulders, enough white", " For Venus' pearly bite;", "And near him rode Silenus on his ass,", "Pelted with flowers as he on did pass", " Tipsily quaffing.", "", "'Whence came ye, merry Damsels! whence came ye,", "So many, and so many, and such glee?", "Why have ye left your bowers desolate,", " Your lutes, and gentler fate?'--", "'We follow Bacchus! Bacchus on the wing,", " A-conquering!", "Bacchus, young Bacchus! good or ill betide,", "We dance before him thorough kingdoms wide:--", "Come hither, lady fair, and joined be", " To our wild minstrelsy!'", "", "'Whence came ye, jolly Satyrs! whence came ye,", "So many, and so many, and such glee?", "Why have ye left your forest haunts, why left", " Your nuts in oak-tree cleft?'--", "'For wine, for wine we left our kernel tree;", "For wine we left our heath, and yellow brooms,", " And cold mushrooms;", "For wine we follow Bacchus through the earth;", "Great god of breathless cups and chirping mirth!", "Come hither, lady fair, and joined be", " To our mad minstrelsy!'", "", "Over wide streams and mountains great we went,", "And, save when Bacchus kept his ivy tent,", "Onward the tiger and the leopard pants,", " With Asian elephants:", "Onward these myriads--with song and dance,", "With zebras striped, and sleek Arabians' prance,", "Web-footed alligators, crocodiles,", "Bearing upon their scaly backs, in files,", "Plump infant laughers mimicking the coil", "Of seamen, and stout galley-rowers' toil:", "With toying oars and silken sails they glide,", " Nor care for wind and tide.", "", "Mounted on panthers' furs and lions' manes,", "From rear to van they scour about the plains;", "A three days' journey in a moment done;", "And always, at the rising of the sun,", "About the wilds they hunt with spear and horn,", " On spleenful unicorn.", "", "I saw Osirian Egypt kneel adown", " Before the vine-wreath crown!", "I saw parch'd Abyssinia rouse and sing", " To the silver cymbals' ring!", "I saw the whelming vintage hotly pierce", " Old Tartary the fierce!", "The kings of Ind their jewel-sceptres vail,", "And from their treasures scatter pearled hail;", "Great Brahma from his mystic heaven groans,", " And all his priesthood moans,", "Before young Bacchus' eye-wink turning pale.", "Into these regions came I, following him,", "Sick-hearted, weary--so I took a whim", "To stray away into these forests drear,", " Alone, without a peer:", "And I have told thee all thou mayest hear.", "", " Young Stranger!", " I've been a ranger", "In search of pleasure throughout every clime;", " Alas! 'tis not for me!", " Bewitch'd I sure must be,", "To lose in grieving all my maiden prime.", "", " Come then, Sorrow,", " Sweetest Sorrow!", "Like an own babe I nurse thee on my breast:", " I thought to leave thee,", " And deceive thee,", "But now of all the world I love thee best.", "", " There is not one,", " No, no, not one", "But thee to comfort a poor lonely maid;", " Thou art her mother,", " And her brother,", "Her playmate, and her wooer in the shade." ], "linecount": "145" }, { "title": "Song On May Morning", "author": "John Milton", "lines": [ "Now the bright morning Star, Dayes harbinger,", "Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her", "The Flowry May, who from her green lap throws", "The yellow Cowslip, and the pale Primrose.", "Hail bounteous May that dost inspire", "Mirth and youth, and warm desire,", "Woods and Groves, are of thy dressing,", "Hill and Dale, doth boast thy blessing.", "Thus we salute thee with our early Song,", "And welcom thee, and wish thee long." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Cradle Song", "author": "Lord Alfred Tennyson", "lines": [ "What does little birdie say", "In her nest at peep of day?", "Let me fly, says little birdie,", "Mother, let me fly away.", "Birdie, rest a little longer,", "Till thy little wings are stronger.", "So she rests a little longer,", "Then she flies away.", "", "What does little baby say,", "In her bed at peep of day?", "Baby says, like little birdie,", "Let me rise and fly away.", "Baby, sleep a little longer,", "Till thy little limbs are stronger.", "If she sleeps a little longer,", "Baby too shall fly away." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Rose Family - Song II", "author": "Louisa May Alcott", "lines": [ "O lesson well and wisely taught", "Stay with me to the last,", "That all my life may better be", "For the trial that is past.", "O vanity, mislead no more!", "Sleep, like passions, long!", "Wake, happy heart, and dance again", "To the music of my song!", "", "O summer days, flit fast away,", "And bring the blithesome hour", "When we three wanderers shall meet", "Safe in our household flower!", "O dear mamma, lament no more!", "Smile on us as we come,", "Your grief has been our punishment,", "Your love has led us home." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Rose Family - Song 1", "author": "Louisa May Alcott", "lines": [ "O flower at my window", "Why blossom you so fair,", "With your green and purple cup", "Upturned to sun and air?", "'I bloom, blithesome Bessie,", "To cheer your childish heart;", "The world is full of labor,", "And this shall be my part.'", "Whirl, busy wheel, faster,", "Spin, little thread, spin;", "The sun shines fair without,", "And we are gay within.", "", "O robin in the tree-top,", "With sunshine on your breast,", "Why brood you so patiently", "Above your hidden nest?", "'I brood, blithesome Bessie,", "And sing my humble song,", "That the world may have more music", "From my little ones erelong.'", "Whirl, busy wheel, faster,", "Spin, little thread, spin;", "The sun shines fair without,", "And we are gay within.", "", "O balmy wind of summer,", "O silver-singing brook,", "Why rustle through the branches?", "Why shimmer in your nook?", "'I flutter, blithesome Bessie,", "Like a blessing far and wide;", "I scatter bloom and verdue", "Where'er my footsteps glide.'", "Whirl, busy wheel, faster,", "Spin, little thread, spin;", "The sun shines fair without,", "And we are gay within.", "", "O brook and breeze and blossom,", "And robin on the tree,", "You make a joy of duty,", "A pride of industry;", "Teach me to work as blithely,", "With a willing hand and heart:", "The world is full of labor,", "And I must do my part.", "Whirl, busy wheel, faster,", "Spin, little thread, spin;", "The sun shines fair without,", "And we are gay within." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Song of Thyrsis", "author": "Philip Freneau", "lines": [ "THE turtle on yon withered bough,", "That lately mourned her murdered mate,", "Has found another comrade now--", "Such changes all await!", "Again her drooping plume is drest,", "Again she's willing to be blest", "And takes her lover to her nest.", "", "If nature has decreed it so", "With all above, and all below,", "Let us like them forget our woe,", "And not be killed with sorrow.", "If I should quit your arms to-night", "And chance to die before 't was light,", "I would advise you -- and you might --", "Love again to-morrow." ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "292. Song—Farewell to the Highlands", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FAREWELL to the Highlands, farewell to the North,", "The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;", "Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,", "The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.", "", "", "Chorus.—My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,", "My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;", "Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,", "My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.", "", "", "Farewell to the mountains, high-cover’d with snow,", "Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;", "Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,", "Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.", " My heart’s in the Highlands, &c." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "Mary, leave thy lowly cot", " When thy thickest jobs are done;", "When thy friends will miss thee not,", " Mary, to the pastures run.", "Where we met the other night", " Neath the bush upon the plain,", "Be it dark or be it light,", " Ye may guess we'll meet again.", "", "Should ye go or should ye not,", " Never shilly-shally, dear.", "Leave your work and leave your cot,", " Nothing need ye doubt or fear:", "Fools may tell ye lies in spite,", " Calling me a roving swain;", "Think what passed the other night--", " I'll be bound ye'll meet again." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Wood-cutter's Night Song", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "Welcome, red and roundy sun,", " Dropping lowly in the west;", "Now my hard day's work is done,", " I'm as happy as the best.", "", "Joyful are the thoughts of home,", " Now I'm ready for my chair,", "So, till morrow-morning's come,", " Bill and mittens, lie ye there!", "", "Though to leave your pretty song,", " Little birds, it gives me pain,", "Yet to-morrow is not long,", " Then I'm with you all again.", "", "If I stop, and stand about,", " Well I know how things will be,", "Judy will be looking out", " Every now-and-then for me.", "", "So fare ye well! and hold your tongues,", " Sing no more until I come;", "They're not worthy of your songs", " That never care to drop a crumb.", "", "All day long I love the oaks,", " But, at nights, yon little cot,", "Where I see the chimney smokes,", " Is by far the prettiest spot.", "", "Wife and children all are there,", " To revive with pleasant looks,", "Table ready set, and chair,", " Supper hanging on the hooks.", "", "Soon as ever I get in,", " When my faggot down I fling,", "Little prattlers they begin", " Teasing me to talk and sing.", "", "Welcome, red and roundy sun,", " Dropping lowly in the west;", "Now my hard day's work is done,", " I'm as happy as the best.", "", "Joyful are the thoughts of home,", " Now I'm ready for my chair,", "So, till morrow-morning's come,", " Bill and mittens, lie ye there!" ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "One gloomy eve I roamed about", " Neath Oxey's hazel bowers,", "While timid hares were darting out,", " To crop the dewy flowers;", "And soothing was the scene to me,", " Right pleased was my soul,", "My breast was calm as summer's sea", " When waves forget to roll.", "", "But short was even's placid smile,", " My startled soul to charm,", "When Nelly lightly skipt the stile,", " With milk-pail on her arm:", "One careless look on me she flung,", " As bright as parting day;", "And like a hawk from covert sprung,", " It pounced my peace away." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Songs From Pippa Passes", "author": "Robert Browning", "lines": [ "Day!", "Faster and more fast,", "O'er night's brim, day boils at last:", "Boils, pure gold, o'er the cloud-cup's brim.", "Where spurting and suppressed it lay,", "For not a froth-flake touched the rim", "Of yonder gap in the solid gray", "Of the eastern cloud, an hour away;", "But forth one wavelet, then another, curled,", "Till the whole sunrise, not to be suppressed,", "Rose, reddened, and its seething breast", "Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then overflowed the world.", "", " All service ranks the same with God:", " If now, as formerly He trod", " Paradise, His presence fills", " Our earth, each only as God wills", " Can work--God's puppets, best and worst,", " Are we: there is no last nor first.", "", " The year's at the spring", " And day's at the morn:", " Morning's at seven;", " The hillside's dew-pearled;", " The lark's on the wing;", " The snail's on the thorn:", " God's in His heaven--", " All's right with the world!", "", "Give her but a least excuse to love me!", " When--where--", "How--can this arm establish her above me,", " If fortune fixed her as my lady there,", "There already, to eternally reprove me?", " (\"Hist!\"--said Kate the queen;", "But \"Oh,\" cried the maiden, binding her tresses,", " \"'Tis only a page that carols unseen,", "Crumbling your hounds their messes!\")", "", "Is she wronged?--To the rescue of her honour,", " My heart!", "Is she poor?--What costs it to be styled a donor?", " Merely an earth to cleave, a sea to part.", "But that fortune should have thrust all this upon her!", " (\"Nay, list!\"--bade Kate the queen;", "And still cried the maiden, binding her tresses,", " \"'Tis only a page that carols unseen,", "Fitting your hawks their jesses!\")" ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "Fill the Goblet Again. a Song", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Fill the goblet again! for I never before", "Felt the glow which now gladdens my heart to its core;", "Let us drink!--who would not?--since, through life's varied round,", "In the goblet alone no deception is found.", "", "I have tried in its turn all that life can supply;", "I have bask'd in the beam of a dark rolling eye;", "I have lov'd!--who has not?--but what heart can declare", "That Pleasure existed while Passion was there?", "", "In the days of my youth, when the heart's in its spring,", "And dreams that Affection can never take wing,", "I had friends!--who has not?--but what tongue will avow,", "That friends, rosy wine! are so faithful as thou?", "", "The heart of a mistress some boy may estrange,", "Friendship shifts with the sunbeam--thou never canst change;", "Thou grow'st old--who does not?--but on earth what appears,", "Whose virtues, like thine, still increase with its years?", "", "Yet if blest to the utmost that Love can bestow,", "Should a rival bow down to our idol below,", "We are jealous!--who's not?--thou hast no such alloy;", "For the more that enjoy thee, the more we enjoy.", "", "Then the season of youth and its vanities past,", "For refuge we fly to the goblet at last;", "There we find--do we not?--in the flow of the soul,", "That truth, as of yore, is confined to the bowl.", "", "When the box of Pandora was open'd on earth,", "And Misery's triumph commenc'd over Mirth,", "Hope was left,--was she not?--but the goblet we kiss,", "And care not for Hope, who are certain of bliss.", "", "Long life to the grape! for when summer is flown,", "The age of our nectar shall gladden our own:", "We must die--who shall not?--May our sins be forgiven,", "And Hebe shall never be idle in Heaven." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Translation of the Famous Greek War Song, \"δεῦτε παῖδεσ τῶν ἑλλήνων.\"", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Sons of the Greeks, arise!", " The glorious hour's gone forth,", "And, worthy of such ties,", " Display who gave us birth.", "", "CHORUS.", "", "Sons of Greeks! let us go", "In arms against the foe,", "Till their hated blood shall flow", " In a river past our feet.", "", "Then manfully despising", " The Turkish tyrant's yoke,", "Let your country see you rising,", " And all her chains are broke.", "Brave shades of chiefs and sages,", " Behold the coming strife!", "Hellénes of past ages,", " Oh, start again to life!", "At the sound of my trumpet, breaking", " Your sleep, oh, join with me!", "And the seven-hilled city seeking,", " Fight, conquer, till we're free.", "", " Sons of Greeks, etc.", "", "Sparta, Sparta, why in slumbers", " Lethargic dost thou lie?", "Awake, and join thy numbers", " With Athens, old ally!", "Leonidas recalling,", " That chief of ancient song,", "Who saved ye once from falling,", " The terrible! the strong!", "Who made that bold diversion", " In old Thermopylæ,", "And warring with the Persian", " To keep his country free;", "With his three hundred waging", " The battle, long he stood,", "And like a lion raging,", " Expired in seas of blood.", "", " Sons of Greeks, etc." ], "linecount": "39" }, { "title": "Translation of the Romaic Song,", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "I enter thy garden of roses,", " Belovéd and fair Haidée,", "Each morning where Flora reposes,", " For surely I see her in thee.", "Oh, Lovely! thus low I implore thee,", " Receive this fond truth from my tongue,", "Which utters its song to adore thee,", " Yet trembles for what it has sung;", "As the branch, at the bidding of Nature,", " Adds fragrance and fruit to the tree,", "Through her eyes, through her every feature,", " Shines the soul of the young Haidée.", "", "But the loveliest garden grows hateful", " When Love has abandoned the bowers;", "Bring me hemlock--since mine is ungrateful,", " That herb is more fragrant than flowers.", "The poison, when poured from the chalice,", " Will deeply embitter the bowl;", "But when drunk to escape from thy malice,", " The draught shall be sweet to my soul.", "Too cruel! in vain I implore thee", " My heart from these horrors to save:", "Will nought to my bosom restore thee?", " Then open the gates of the grave.", "", "As the chief who to combat advances", " Secure of his conquest before,", "Thus thou, with those eyes for thy lances,", " Hast pierced through my heart to its core.", "Ah, tell me, my soul! must I perish", " By pangs which a smile would dispel?", "Would the hope, which thou once bad'st me cherish,", " For torture repay me too well?", "Now sad is the garden of roses,", " Belovéd but false Haidée!", "There Flora all withered reposes,", " And mourns o'er thine absence with me." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "Translation of a Romaic Love Song", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Ah! Love was never yet without", "The pang, the agony, the doubt,", "Which rends my heart with ceaseless sigh,", "While day and night roll darkling by.", "", "Without one friend to hear my woe,", "I faint, I die beneath the blow.", "That Love had arrows, well I knew,", "Alas! I find them poisoned too.", "", "Birds, yet in freedom, shun the net", "Which Love around your haunts hath set;", "Or, circled by his fatal fire,", "Your hearts shall burn, your hopes expire.", "", "A bird of free and careless wing", "Was I, through many a smiling spring;", "But caught within the subtle snare,", "I burn, and feebly flutter there.", "", "Who ne'er have loved, and loved in vain,", "Can neither feel nor pity pain,", "The cold repulse, the look askance,", "The lightning of Love's angry glance.", "", "In flattering dreams I deemed thee mine;", "Now hope, and he who hoped, decline;", "Like melting wax, or withering flower,", "I feel my passion, and thy power.", "", "My light of Life! ah, tell me why", "That pouting lip, and altered eye?", "My bird of Love! my beauteous mate!", "And art thou changed, and canst thou hate?", "", "Mine eyes like wintry streams o'erflow:", "What wretch with me would barter woe?", "My bird! relent: one note could give", "A charm to bid thy lover live.", "", "My curdling blood, my madd'ning brain,", "In silent anguish I sustain;", "And still thy heart, without partaking", "One pang, exults--while mine is breaking.", "", "Pour me the poison; fear not thou!", "Thou canst not murder more than now:", "I've lived to curse my natal day,", "And Love, that thus can lingering slay.", "", "My wounded soul, my bleeding breast,", "Can patience preach thee into rest?", "Alas! too late, I dearly know", "That Joy is harbinger of Woe." ], "linecount": "44" }, { "title": "Song for the Luddites", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "AS the Liberty lads o'er the sea", "Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood,", " So we, boys, we", " Will _die_ fighting, or _live_ free,", "And down with all kings but King Ludd!", "", "When the web that we weave is complete,", "And the shuttle exchanged for the sword,", " We will fling the winding sheet", " O'er the despot at our feet,", "And dye it deep in the gore he has poured.", "", "Though black as his heart its hue,", "Since his veins are corrupted to mud,", " Yet this is the dew", " Which the tree shall renew", "Of Liberty, planted by Ludd!" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Song to the Suliotes", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "UP to battle! Sons of Suli", "Up, and do your duty duly!", "There the wall--and there the Moat is:", "Bouwah! Bouwah! Suliotes!", "There is booty--there is Beauty,", "Up my boys and do your duty.", "", "By the sally and the rally", "Which defied the arms of Ali;", "By your own dear native Highlands,", "By your children in the islands,", "Up and charge, my Stratiotes,", "Bouwah!--Bouwah!--Suliotes!", "", "As our ploughshare is the Sabre:", "Here's the harvest of our labour;", "For behind those battered breaches", "Are our foes with all their riches:", "There is Glory--there is plunder--", "Then away despite of thunder!" ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Song From the Wandering Jew", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "See yon opening flower", "Spreads its fragrance to the blast;", "It fades within an hour,", "Its decay is pale--is fast.", "Paler is yon maiden;", "Faster is her heart's decay;", "Deep with sorrow laden,", "She sinks in death away." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "AT poet's tears,", "Sweeter than any smiles but hers,", "She laughs; I sigh;", "And yet I could not live if she should die.", "", "And when in June", "Once more the cuckoo spoils his tune,", "She laughs at sighs;", "And yet she says she loves me till she dies." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "305. Song—Gudewife, count the lawin", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "GANE is the day, and mirk’s the night,", "But we’ll ne’er stray for faut o’ light;", "Gude ale and bratdy’s stars and moon,", "And blue-red wine’s the risin’ sun.", "", "", "Chorus.—Then gudewife, count the lawin,", "The lawin, the lawin,", "Then gudewife, count the lawin,", " And bring a coggie mair.", "", "", "There’s wealth and ease for gentlemen,", "And simple folk maun fecht and fen’;", "But here we’re a’ in ae accord,", "For ilka man that’s drunk’s a lord.", " Then gudewife, &c.", "", "", "My coggie is a haly pool", "That heals the wounds o’ care and dool;", "And Pleasure is a wanton trout,", "An ye drink it a’, ye’ll find him out.", " Then gudewife, &c." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "195. Song—A Rose-bud by my Early Walk", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "A ROSE-BUD by my early walk,", "Adown a corn-enclosed bawk,", "Sae gently bent its thorny stalk,", " All on a dewy morning.", "Ere twice the shades o’ dawn are fled,", "In a’ its crimson glory spread,", "And drooping rich the dewy head,", " It scents the early morning.", "", "", "Within the bush her covert nest", "A little linnet fondly prest;", "The dew sat chilly on her breast,", " Sae early in the morning.", "She soon shall see her tender brood,", "The pride, the pleasure o’ the wood,", "Amang the fresh green leaves bedew’d,", " Awake the early morning.", "", "", "So thou, dear bird, young Jeany fair,", "On trembling string or vocal air,", "Shall sweetly pay the tender care", " That tents thy early morning.", "So thou, sweet Rose-bud, young and gay,", "Shalt beauteous blaze upon the day,", "And bless the parent’s evening ray", " That watch’d thy early morning." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "347. Song—Ye Jacobites by Name", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "YE Jacobites by name, give an ear, give an ear,", "Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear,", " Ye Jacobites by name,", " Your fautes I will proclaim,", "Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear.", "", "", "What is Right, and What is Wrang, by the law, by the law?", "What is Right and what is Wrang by the law?", " What is Right, and what is Wrang?", " A short sword, and a lang,", "A weak arm and a strang, for to draw.", "", "", "What makes heroic strife, famed afar, famed afar?", "What makes heroic strife famed afar?", " What makes heroic strife?", " To whet th’ assassin’s knife,", "Or hunt a Parent’s life, wi’ bluidy war?", "", "", "Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state,", "Then let your schemes alone in the state.", " Then let your schemes alone,", " Adore the rising sun,", "And leave a man undone, to his fate." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "494. Song—Farewell thou stream that winding flows", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FAREWELL, thou stream that winding flows", " Around Eliza’s dwelling;", "O mem’ry! spare the cruel thoes", " Within my bosom swelling.", "Condemn’d to drag a hopeless chain", " And yet in secret languish;", "To feel a fire in every vein,", " Nor dare disclose my anguish.", "", "", "Love’s veriest wretch, unseen, unknown,", " I fain my griefs would cover;", "The bursting sigh, th’ unweeting groan,", " Betray the hapless lover.", "I know thou doom’st me to despair,", " Nor wilt, nor canst relieve me;", "But, O Eliza, hear one prayer—", " For pity’s sake forgive me!", "", "", "The music of thy voice I heard,", " Nor wist while it enslav’d me;", "I saw thine eyes, yet nothing fear’d,", " Till fears no more had sav’d me:", "Th’ unwary sailor thus, aghast", " The wheeling torrent viewing,", "’Mid circling horrors sinks at last,", " In overwhelming ruin." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "437. Song—Thine am I, my faithful Fair", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THINE am I, my faithful Fair,", " Thine, my lovely Nancy;", "Ev’ry pulse along my veins,", " Ev’ry roving fancy.", "To thy bosom lay my heart,", " There to throb and languish;", "Tho’ despair had wrung its core,", " That would heal its anguish.", "", "", "Take away those rosy lips,", " Rich with balmy treasure;", "Turn away thine eyes of love,", " Lest I die with pleasure!", "What is life when wanting Love?", " Night without a morning:", "Love’s the cloudless summer sun,", " Nature gay adorning." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "273. Song—Tam Glen", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "MY heart is a-breaking, dear Tittie,", " Some counsel unto me come len’,", "To anger them a’ is a pity,", " But what will I do wi’ Tam Glen?", "", "", "I’m thinking, wi’ sic a braw fellow,", " In poortith I might mak a fen;", "What care I in riches to wallow,", " If I maunna marry Tam Glen!", "", "", "There’s Lowrie the Laird o’ Dumeller—", " “Gude day to you, brute!” he comes ben:", "He brags and he blaws o’ his siller,", " But when will he dance like Tam Glen!", "", "", "My minnie does constantly deave me,", " And bids me beware o’ young men;", "They flatter, she says, to deceive me,", " But wha can think sae o’ Tam Glen!", "", "", "My daddie says, gin I’ll forsake him,", " He’d gie me gude hunder marks ten;", "But, if it’s ordain’d I maun take him,", " O wha will I get but Tam Glen!", "", "", "Yestreen at the Valentine’s dealing,", " My heart to my mou’ gied a sten’;", "For thrice I drew ane without failing,", " And thrice it was written “Tam Glen”!", "", "", "The last Halloween I was waukin", " My droukit sark-sleeve, as ye ken,", "His likeness came up the house staukin,", " And the very grey breeks o’ Tam Glen!", "", "", "Come, counsel, dear Tittie, don’t tarry;", " I’ll gie ye my bonie black hen,", "Gif ye will advise me to marry", " The lad I lo’e dearly, Tam Glen." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "511. Song—O aye my wife she dang me", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "Chorus—O aye my wife she dang me,", " An’ aft my wife she bang’d me,", "If ye gie a woman a’ her will,", " Gude faith! she’ll soon o’er-gang ye.", "", "", "ON peace an’ rest my mind was bent,", " And, fool I was! I married;", "But never honest man’s intent", " Sane cursedly miscarried.", " O aye my wife, &c.", "", "", "Some sairie comfort at the last,", " When a’ thir days are done, man,", "My pains o’ hell on earth is past,", " I’m sure o’ bliss aboon, man,", " O aye my wife, &c." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "447. Song—A red, red Rose", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "O MY Luve’s like a red, red rose,", " That’s newly sprung in June:", "O my Luve’s like the melodie,", " That’s sweetly play’d in tune.", "", "", "As fair art thou, my bonie lass,", " So deep in luve am I;", "And I will luve thee still, my dear,", " Till a’ the seas gang dry.", "", "", "Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,", " And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;", "And I will luve thee still, my dear,", " While the sands o’ life shall run.", "", "", "And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!", " And fare-thee-weel, a while!", "And I will come again, my Luve,", " Tho’ ’twere ten thousand mile!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "449. Song—The Flowery banks of Cree", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "HERE is the glen, and here the bower", " All underneath the birchen shade;", "The village-bell has told the hour,", " O what can stay my lovely maid?", "", "", "’Tis not Maria’s whispering call;", " ’Tis but the balmy breathing gale,", "Mixt with some warbler’s dying fall,", " The dewy star of eve to hail.", "", "", "It is Maria’s voice I hear;", " So calls the woodlark in the grove,", "His little, faithful mate to cheer;", " At once ’tis music and ’tis love.", "", "", "And art thou come! and art thou true!", " O welcome dear to love and me!", "And let us all our vows renew,", " Along the flowery banks of Cree." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "73. Song—Farewell to Ballochmyle", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THE CATRINE woods were yellow seen,", " The flowers decay’d on Catrine lee,", "Nae lav’rock sang on hillock green,", " But nature sicken’d on the e’e.", "Thro’ faded groves Maria sang,", " Hersel’ in beauty’s bloom the while;", "And aye the wild-wood ehoes rang,", " Fareweel the braes o’ Ballochmyle!", "", "", "Low in your wintry beds, ye flowers,", " Again ye’ll flourish fresh and fair;", "Ye birdies dumb, in with’ring bowers,", " Again ye’ll charm the vocal air.", "But here, alas! for me nae mair", " Shall birdie charm, or floweret smile;", "Fareweel the bonie banks of Ayr,", " Fareweel, fareweel! sweet Ballochmyle!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "538. Song—Now Spring has clad the grove in green", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "NOW spring has clad the grove in green,", " And strew’d the lea wi’ flowers;", "The furrow’d, waving corn is seen", " Rejoice in fostering showers.", "While ilka thing in nature join", " Their sorrows to forego,", "O why thus all alone are mine", " The weary steps o’ woe!", "", "", "The trout in yonder wimpling burn", " That glides, a silver dart,", "And, safe beneath the shady thorn,", " Defies the angler’s art—", "My life was ance that careless stream,", " That wanton trout was I;", "But Love, wi’ unrelenting beam,", " Has scorch’d my fountains dry.", "", "", "That little floweret’s peaceful lot,", " In yonder cliff that grows,", "Which, save the linnet’s flight, I wot,", " Nae ruder visit knows,", "Was mine, till Love has o’er me past,", " And blighted a’ my bloom;", "And now, beneath the withering blast,", " My youth and joy consume.", "", "", "The waken’d lav’rock warbling springs,", " And climbs the early sky,", "Winnowing blythe his dewy wings", " In morning’s rosy eye;", "As little reck’d I sorrow’s power,", " Until the flowery snare", "O’witching Love, in luckless hour,", " Made me the thrall o’ care.", "", "", "O had my fate been Greenland snows,", " Or Afric’s burning zone,", "Wi’man and nature leagued my foes,", " So Peggy ne’er I’d known!", "The wretch whose doom is “Hope nae mair”", " What tongue his woes can tell;", "Within whase bosom, save Despair,", " Nae kinder spirits dwell." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "264. Song—On a Bank of Flowers", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "ON a bank of flowers, in a summer day,", " For summer lightly drest,", "The youthful, blooming Nelly lay,", " With love and sleep opprest;", "When Willie, wand’ring thro’ the wood,", "Who for her favour oft had sued;", " He gaz’d, he wish’d", " He fear’d, he blush’d,", "And trembled where he stood.", "", "", "Her closèd eyes, like weapons sheath’d,", " Were seal’d in soft repose;", "Her lip, still as she fragrant breath’d,", " It richer dyed the rose;", "The springing lilies, sweetly prest,", "Wild-wanton kissed her rival breast;", " He gaz’d, he wish’d,", " He mear’d, he blush’d,", "His bosom ill at rest.", "", "", "Her robes, light-waving in the breeze,", " Her tender limbs embrace;", "Her lovely form, her native ease,", " All harmony and grace;", "Tumultuous tides his pulses roll,", "A faltering, ardent kiss he stole;", " He gaz’d, he wish’d,", " He fear’d, he blush’d,", "And sigh’d his very soul.", "", "", "As flies the partridge from the brake,", " On fear-inspired wings,", "So Nelly, starting, half-awake,", " Away affrighted springs;", "But Willie follow’d-as he should,", "He overtook her in the wood;", " He vow’d, he pray’d,", " He found the maid", "Forgiving all, and good." ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "101. Song—Composed in Spring", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "AGAIN rejoicing Nature sees", " Her robe assume its vernal hues:", "Her leafy locks wave in the breeze,", " All freshly steep’d in morning dews.", "", "", " Chorus.—And maun I still on Menie doat,", " And bear the scorn that’s in her e’e?", " For it’s jet, jet black, an’ it’s like a hawk,", " An’ it winna let a body be.", "", "", "In vain to me the cowslips blaw,", " In vain to me the vi’lets spring;", "In vain to me in glen or shaw,", " The mavis and the lintwhite sing.", " And maun I still, &c.", "", "", "The merry ploughboy cheers his team,", "Wi’ joy the tentie seedsman stalks;", "But life to me’s a weary dream,", "A dream of ane that never wauks.", " And maun I still, &c.", "", "", "The wanton coot the water skims,", "Amang the reeds the ducklings cry,", "The stately swan majestic swims,", "And ev’ry thing is blest but I.", " And maun I still, &c.", "", "", "The sheep-herd steeks his faulding slap,", "And o’er the moorlands whistles shill:", "Wi’ wild, unequal, wand’ring step,", "I meet him on the dewy hill.", " And maun I still, &c.", "", "", "And when the lark, ’tween light and dark,", "Blythe waukens by the daisy’s side,", "And mounts and sings on flittering wings,", "A woe-worn ghaist I hameward glide.", " And maun I still, &c.", "", "", "Come winter, with thine angry howl,", "And raging, bend the naked tree;", "Thy gloom will soothe my cheerless soul,", "When nature all is sad like me!", " And maun I still, &c." ], "linecount": "38" }, { "title": "394. Song—Braw Lads o’ Gala Water", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "BRAW, braw lads on Yarrow-braes,", " They rove amang the blooming heather;", "But Yarrow braes, nor Ettrick shaws", " Can match the lads o’ Galla Water.", "", "", "But there is ane, a secret ane,", " Aboon them a’ I loe him better;", "And I’ll be his, and he’ll be mine,", " The bonie lad o’ Galla Water.", "", "", "Altho’ his daddie was nae laird,", " And tho’ I hae nae meikle tocher,", "Yet rich in kindest, truest love,", " We’ll tent our flocks by Galla Water.", "", "", "It ne’er was wealth, it ne’er was wealth,", " That coft contentment, peace, or pleasure;", "The bands and bliss o’ mutual love,", " O that’s the chiefest warld’s treasure." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "137. Song—Farewell to the Banks of Ayr", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THE GLOOMY night is gath’ring fast,", "Loud roars the wild, inconstant blast,", "Yon murky cloud is foul with rain,", "I see it driving o’er the plain;", "The hunter now has left the moor.", "The scatt’red coveys meet secure;", "While here I wander, prest with care,", "Along the lonely banks of Ayr.", "", "", "The Autumn mourns her rip’ning corn", "By early Winter’s ravage torn;", "Across her placid, azure sky,", "She sees the scowling tempest fly:", "Chill runs my blood to hear it rave;", "I think upon the stormy wave,", "Where many a danger I must dare,", "Far from the bonie banks of Ayr.", "", "", "’Tis not the surging billow’s roar,", "’Tis not that fatal, deadly shore;", "Tho’ death in ev’ry shape appear,", "The wretched have no more to fear:", "But round my heart the ties are bound,", "That heart transpierc’d with many a wound;", "These bleed afresh, those ties I tear,", "To leave the bonie banks of Ayr.", "", "", "Farewell, old Coila’s hills and dales,", "Her healthy moors and winding vales;", "The scenes where wretched Fancy roves,", "Pursuing past, unhappy loves!", "Farewell, my friends! farewell, my foes!", "My peace with these, my love with those:", "The bursting tears my heart declare—", "Farewell, the bonie banks of Ayr!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "314. Song—There’ll never be Peace till Jamie comes hame", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "BY yon Castle wa’, at the close of the day,", "I heard a man sing, tho’ his head it was grey:", "And as he was singing, the tears doon came,—", "There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.", "", "", "The Church is in ruins, the State is in jars,", "Delusions, oppressions, and murderous wars,", "We dare na weel say’t, but we ken wha’s to blame,—", "There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.", "", "", "My seven braw sons for Jamie drew sword,", "But now I greet round their green beds in the yerd;", "It brak the sweet heart o’ my faithful and dame,—", "There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.", "", "", "Now life is a burden that bows me down,", "Sin’ I tint my bairns, and he tint his crown;", "But till my last moments my words are the same,—", "There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "226. Song—I hae a Wife o’ my Ain", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "I HAE a wife of my ain,", " I’ll partake wi’ naebody;", "I’ll take Cuckold frae nane,", " I’ll gie Cuckold to naebody.", "", "", "I hae a penny to spend,", " There—thanks to naebody!", "I hae naething to lend,", " I’ll borrow frae naebody.", "", "", "I am naebody’s lord,", " I’ll be slave to naebody;", "I hae a gude braid sword,", " I’ll tak dunts frae naebody.", "", "", "I’ll be merry and free,", " I’ll be sad for naebody;", "Naebody cares for me,", " I care for naebody." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "370. Song—Sic a Wife as Willie had", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "WILLIE WASTLE dwalt on Tweed,", " The spot they ca’d it Linkumdoddie;", "Willie was a wabster gude,", " Could stown a clue wi’ ony body:", "He had a wife was dour and din,", " O Tinkler Maidgie was her mither;", "Sic a wife as Willie had,", " I wad na gie a button for her!", "", "", "She has an e’e, she has but ane,", " The cat has twa the very colour;", "Five rusty teeth, forbye a stump,", " A clapper tongue wad deave a miller:", "A whiskin beard about her mou’,", " Her nose and chin they threaten ither;", "Sic a wife as Willie had,", " I wadna gie a button for her!", "", "", "She’s bow-hough’d, she’s hein-shin’d,", " Ae limpin leg a hand-breed shorter;", "She’s twisted right, she’s twisted left,", " To balance fair in ilka quarter:", "She has a lump upon her breast,", " The twin o’ that upon her shouther;", "Sic a wife as Willie had,", " I wadna gie a button for her!", "", "", "Auld baudrons by the ingle sits,", " An’ wi’ her loof her face a-washin;", "But Willie’s wife is nae sae trig,", " She dights her grunzie wi’ a hushion;", "Her walie nieves like midden-creels,", " Her face wad fyle the Logan Water;", "Sic a wife as Willie had,", " I wadna gie a button for her!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "209. Song—M’Pherson’s Farewell", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FAREWELL, ye dungeons dark and strong,", " The wretch’s destinie!", "M’Pherson’s time will not be long", " On yonder gallows-tree.", "", "", "Chorus.—Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,", " Sae dauntingly gaed he;", "He play’d a spring, and danc’d it round,", " Below the gallows-tree.", "", "", "O, what is death but parting breath?", " On many a bloody plain", "I’ve dared his face, and in this place", " I scorn him yet again!", " Sae rantingly, &c.", "", "", "Untie these bands from off my hands,", " And bring me to my sword;", "And there’s no a man in all Scotland", " But I’ll brave him at a word.", " Sae rantingly, &c.", "", "", "I’ve liv’d a life of sturt and strife;", " I die by treacherie:", "It burns my heart I must depart,", " And not avengèd be.", " Sae rantingly, &c.", "", "", "Now farewell light, thou sunshine bright,", " And all beneath the sky!", "May coward shame distain his name,", " The wretch that dares not die!", " Sae rantingly, &c." ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "117. Song—Farewell to Eliza", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FROM thee, Eliza, I must go,", " And from my native shore;", "The cruel fates between us throw", " A boundless ocean’s roar:", "But boundless oceans, roaring wide,", " Between my love and me,", "They never, never can divide", " My heart and soul from thee.", "", "", "Farewell, farewell, Eliza dear,", " The maid that I adore!", "A boding voice is in mine ear,", " We part to meet no more!", "But the latest throb that leaves my heart,", " While Death stands victor by,—", "That throb, Eliza, is thy part,", " And thine that latest sigh!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "375. Song—The Deuks dang o’er my Daddie", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THE BAIRNS gat out wi’ an unco shout,", " The deuks dang o’er my daddie, O!", "The fien-ma-care, quo’ the feirrie auld wife,", " He was but a paidlin’ body, O!", "He paidles out, and he paidles in,", " An’ he paidles late and early, O!", "This seven lang years I hae lien by his side,", " An’ he is but a fusionless carlie, O.", "", "", "O haud your tongue, my feirrie auld wife,", " O haud your tongue, now Nansie, O:", "I’ve seen the day, and sae hae ye,", " Ye wad na ben sae donsie, O.", "I’ve seen the day ye butter’d my brose,", " And cuddl’d me late and early, O;", "But downa-do’s come o’er me now,", " And oh, I find it sairly, O!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "285. Song—I Gaed a Waefu’ Gate Yestreen", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "I GAED a waefu’ gate yestreen,", " A gate, I fear, I’ll dearly rue;", "I gat my death frae twa sweet een,", " Twa lovely een o’bonie blue.", "’Twas not her golden ringlets bright,", " Her lips like roses wat wi’ dew,", "Her heaving bosom, lily-white—", " It was her een sae bonie blue.", "", "", "She talk’d, she smil’d, my heart she wyl’d;", " She charm’d my soul I wist na how;", "And aye the stound, the deadly wound,", " Cam frae her een so bonie blue.", "But “spare to speak, and spare to speed;”", " She’ll aiblins listen to my vow:", "Should she refuse, I’ll lay my dead", " To her twa een sae bonie blue." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "220. Song—The Winter it is Past", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THE WINTER it is past, and the summer comes at last", " And the small birds, they sing on ev’ry tree;", "Now ev’ry thing is glad, while I am very sad,", " Since my true love is parted from me.", "", "", "The rose upon the breer, by the waters running clear,", " May have charms for the linnet or the bee;", "Their little loves are blest, and their little hearts at rest,", " But my true love is parted from me." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "383. Song—My Wife’s a winsome wee thing", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "Chorus.—She is a winsome wee thing,", "She is a handsome wee thing,", "She is a lo’esome wee thing,", " This dear wee wife o’ mine.", "", "", "I NEVER saw a fairer,", "I never lo’ed a dearer,", "And neist my heart I’ll wear her,", " For fear my jewel tine,", " She is a winsome, &c.", "", "", "The warld’s wrack we share o’t;", "The warstle and the care o’t;", "Wi’ her I’ll blythely bear it,", " And think my lot divine.", " She is a winsome, &c." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "352. The Song of Death", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "FAREWELL, thou fair day, thou green earth, and ye skies,", " Now gay with the broad setting sun;", "Farewell, loves and friendships, ye dear tender ties,", " Our race of existence is run!", "Thou grim King of Terrors; thou Life’s gloomy foe!", " Go, frighten the coward and slave;", "Go, teach them to tremble, fell tyrant! but know", " No terrors hast thou to the brave!", "", "", "Thou strik’st the dull peasant—he sinks in the dark,", " Nor saves e’en the wreck of a name;", "Thou strik’st the young hero—a glorious mark;", " He falls in the blaze of his fame!", "In the field of proud honour—our swords in our hands,", " Our King and our country to save;", "While victory shines on Life’s last ebbing sands,—", " O! who would not die with the brave!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "324. Song—The Charms of Lovely Davies", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "O HOW shall I, unskilfu’, try", " The poet’s occupation?", "The tunefu’ powers, in happy hours,", " That whisper inspiration;", "Even they maun dare an effort mair", " Than aught they ever gave us,", "Ere they rehearse, in equal verse,", " The charms o’ lovely Davies.", "", "", "Each eye it cheers when she appears,", " Like Phoebus in the morning,", "When past the shower, and every flower", " The garden is adorning:", "As the wretch looks o’er Siberia’s shore,", " When winter-bound the wave is;", "Sae droops our heart, when we maun part", " Frae charming, lovely Davies.", "", "", "Her smile’s a gift frae ’boon the lift,", " That maks us mair than princes;", "A sceptred hand, a king’s command,", " Is in her darting glances;", "The man in arms ’gainst female charms", " Even he her willing slave is,", "He hugs his chain, and owns the reign", " Of conquering, lovely Davies.", "", "", "My Muse, to dream of such a theme,", " Her feeble powers surrender:", "The eagle’s gaze alone surveys", " The sun’s meridian splendour.", "I wad in vain essay the strain,", " The deed too daring brave is;", "I’ll drap the lyre, and mute admire", " The charms o’ lovely Davies." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "29. Song—The Rigs o’ Barley", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "IT was upon a Lammas night,", " When corn rigs are bonie,", "Beneath the moon’s unclouded light,", " I held awa to Annie;", "The time flew by, wi’ tentless heed,", " Till, ’tween the late and early,", "Wi’ sma’ persuasion she agreed", " To see me thro’ the barley.", "", "", "Corn rigs, an’ barley rigs,", " An’ corn rigs are bonie:", "I’ll ne’er forget that happy night,", " Amang the rigs wi’ Annie.", "", "", "The sky was blue, the wind was still,", " The moon was shining clearly;", "I set her down, wi’ right good will,", " Amang the rigs o’ barley:", "I ken’t her heart was a’ my ain;", " I lov’d her most sincerely;", "I kiss’d her owre and owre again,", " Amang the rigs o’ barley.", " Corn rigs, an’ barley rigs, &c.", "", "", "I lock’d her in my fond embrace;", " Her heart was beating rarely:", "My blessings on that happy place,", " Amang the rigs o’ barley!", "But by the moon and stars so bright,", " That shone that hour so clearly!", "She aye shall bless that happy night", " Amang the rigs o’ barley.", " Corn rigs, an’ barley rigs, &c.", "", "", "I hae been blythe wi’ comrades dear;", " I hae been merry drinking;", "I hae been joyfu’ gath’rin gear;", " I hae been happy thinking:", "But a’ the pleasures e’er I saw,", " Tho’ three times doubl’d fairly,", "That happy night was worth them a’,", " Amang the rigs o’ barley.", " Corn rigs, an’ barley rigs, &c." ], "linecount": "39" }, { "title": "294. Song—To Mary in Heaven", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "THOU ling’ring star, with lessening ray,", " That lov’st to greet the early morn,", "Again thou usher’st in the day", " My Mary from my soul was torn.", "O Mary! dear departed shade!", " Where is thy place of blissful rest?", "See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?", " Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?", "", "", "That sacred hour can I forget,", " Can I forget the hallow’d grove,", "Where, by the winding Ayr, we met,", " To live one day of parting love!", "Eternity will not efface", " Those records dear of transports past,", "Thy image at our last embrace,", " Ah! little thought we ’twas our last!", "", "", "Ayr, gurgling, kiss’d his pebbled shore,", " O’erhung with wild-woods, thickening green;", "The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar,", " ’Twin’d amorous round the raptur’d scene:", "The flowers sprang wanton to be prest,", " The birds sang love on every spray;", "Till too, too soon, the glowing west,", " Proclaim’d the speed of winged day.", "", "", "Still o’er these scenes my mem’ry wakes,", " And fondly broods with miser-care;", "Time but th’ impression stronger makes,", " As streams their channels deeper wear,", "My Mary! dear departed shade!", " Where is thy blissful place of rest?", "See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?", " Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "304. Song—I Murder hate", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "I MURDER hate by flood or field,", " Tho’ glory’s name may screen us;", "In wars at home I’ll spend my blood—", " Life-giving wars of Venus.", "The deities that I adore", " Are social Peace and Plenty;", "I’m better pleas’d to make one more,", " Than be the death of twenty.", "", "", "I would not die like Socrates,", " For all the fuss of Plato;", "Nor would I with Leonidas,", " Nor yet would I with Cato:", "The zealots of the Church and State", " Shall ne’er my mortal foes be;", "But let me have bold Zimri’s fate,", " Within the arms of Cozbi!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "204. Song—Love in the Guise of Friendship", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "YOUR friendship much can make me blest,", " O why that bliss destroy!", "Why urge the only, one request", " You know I will deny!", "", "", "Your thought, if Love must harbour there,", " Conceal it in that thought;", "Nor cause me from my bosom tear", " The very friend I sought." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "488. Song—The Winter of Life", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "BUT lately seen in gladsome green,", " The woods rejoic’d the day,", "Thro’ gentle showers, the laughing flowers", " In double pride were gay:", "But now our joys are fled", " On winter blasts awa;", "Yet maiden May, in rich array,", " Again shall bring them a’.", "", "", "But my white pow, nae kindly thowe", " Shall melt the snaws of Age;", "My trunk of eild, but buss or beild,", " Sinks in Time’s wintry rage.", "Oh, Age has weary days,", " And nights o’ sleepless pain:", "Thou golden time, o’ Youthfu’ prime,", " Why comes thou not again!" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "TO MUSIC: A SONG", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Music, thou queen of heaven, care-charming spell,", "That strik'st a stillness into hell;", "Thou that tam'st tigers, and fierce storms, that rise,", "With thy soul-melting lullabies;", "Fall down, down, down, from those thy chiming spheres", "To charm our souls, as thou enchant'st our ears." ], "linecount": "6" }, { "title": "TO THE ROSE: SONG", "author": "Robert Herrick", "lines": [ "Go, happy Rose, and interwove", "With other flowers, bind my Love.", "Tell her, too, she must not be", "Longer flowing, longer free,", "That so oft has fetter'd me.", "", "Say, if she's fretful, I have bands", "Of pearl and gold, to bind her hands;", "Tell her, if she struggle still,", "I have myrtle rods at will,", "For to tame, though not to kill.", "", "Take thou my blessing thus, and go", "And tell her this,--but do not so!--", "Lest a handsome anger fly", "Like a lightning from her eye,", "And burn thee up, as well as I!" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Spring Song", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "THE air was full of sun and birds,", "The fresh air sparkled clearly.", "Remembrance wakened in my heart", "And I knew I loved her dearly.", "", "The fallows and the leafless trees", "And all my spirit tingled.", "My earliest thought of love, and Spring's", "First puff of perfume mingled.", "", "In my still heart the thoughts awoke,", "Came lone by lone together -", "Say, birds and Sun and Spring, is Love", "A mere affair of weather?" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Home, My Little Children, Hear Are Songs For You", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "COME, my little children, here are songs for you;", "Some are short and some are long, and all, all are new.", "You must learn to sing them very small and clear,", "Very true to time and tune and pleasing to the ear.", "", "Mark the note that rises, mark the notes that fall,", "Mark the time when broken, and the swing of it all.", "So when night is come, and you have gone to bed,", "All the songs you love to sing shall echo in your head." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "A Birthday Song. To S. G.", "author": "Sidney Lanier", "lines": [ "For ever wave, for ever float and shine", "Before my yearning eyes, oh! dream of mine", "Wherein I dreamed that time was like a vine,", "", "A creeping rose, that clomb a height of dread", "Out of the sea of Birth, all filled with dead,", "Up to the brilliant cloud of Death o'erhead.", "", "This vine bore many blossoms, which were years.", "Their petals, red with joy, or bleached by tears,", "Waved to and fro i' the winds of hopes and fears.", "", "Here all men clung, each hanging by his spray.", "Anon, one dropped; his neighbor 'gan to pray;", "And so they clung and dropped and prayed, alway.", "", "But I did mark one lately-opened bloom,", "Wherefrom arose a visible perfume", "That wrapped me in a cloud of dainty gloom.", "", "And rose -- an odor by a spirit haunted --", "And drew me upward with a speed enchanted,", "Swift floating, by wild sea or sky undaunted,", "", "Straight through the cloud of death, where men are free.", "I gained a height, and stayed and bent my knee.", "Then glowed my cloud, and broke and unveiled thee.", "", "\"O flower-born and flower-souled!\" I said,", "\"Be the year-bloom that breathed thee ever red,", "Nor wither, yellow, down among the dead.", "", "\"May all that cling to sprays of time, like me,", "Be sweetly wafted over sky and sea", "By rose-breaths shrining maidens like to thee!\"", "", "Then while we sat upon the height afar", "Came twilight, like a lover late from war,", "With soft winds fluting to his evening star.", "", "And the shy stars grew bold and scattered gold,", "And chanting voices ancient secrets told,", "And an acclaim of angels earthward rolled." ], "linecount": "33" }, { "title": "Song from Arcadia", "author": "Sir Philip Sidney", "lines": [ "My true love hath my heart, and I have his,", "By Just Exchange, one for the other given.", "I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,", "There never was a better bargain driven.", "His heart in me keeps me and him in one,", "My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides;", "He loves my heart, for once it was his own,", "I cherish his, because in me it bides.", "His heart his wound received from my sight,", "My heart was wounded with his wounded heart;", "For as from me on him his hurt did light,", "So still methought in me his hurt did smart.", "Both equal hurt, in his change sought our bliss;", "My true love hath my heart and I have his." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Song of Myself", "author": "Sir Walter Raleigh", "lines": [ "I was a Poet!", "But I did not know it,", "Neither did my Mother,", "Nor my Sister nor my Brother.", "The Rich were not aware of it;", "The Poor took no care of it.", "The Reverend Mr. Drewitt", "Never knew it.", "The High did not suspect it;", "The Low could not detect it.", "Aunt Sue", "Said it was obviously untrue.", "Uncle Ned", "Said I was off my head:", "(This from a Colonial", "Was really a good testimonial.)", "Still everybody seemed to think", "That genius owes a good deal to drink.", "So that is how", "I am not a poet now,", "And why", "My inspiration has run dry.", "It is no sort of use", "To cultivate the Muse", "If vulgar people", "Can't tell a village pump from a church steeple.", "I am merely apologizing", "For the lack of the surprising", "In what I write", "To-night.", "I am quite well-meaning,", "But a lot of things are always intervening", "Between", "What I mean", "And what it is said", "I had in my head.", "It is all very puzzling.", "Uncle Ned", "Says Poets need muzzling.", "He might", "Be right.", "Good-night!" ], "linecount": "42" }, { "title": "\"I have heard the sunset song of the birches,\"", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "\"I have heard the sunset song of the birches,", "A white melody in the silence,", "I have seen a quarrel of the pines.", "At nightfall", "The little grasses have rushed by me", "With the wind men.", "These things have I lived,\" quoth the maniac,", "\"Possessing only eyes and ears.", "But you --", "You don green spectacles before you look at roses.\"" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Song to the Evening Star", "author": "Thomas Campbell", "lines": [ "1 Star that bringest home the bee,", "2 And sett'st the weary labourer free!", "3 If any star shed peace, 'tis thou,", "4 That send'st it from above,", "5 Appearing when Heaven's breath and brow", "6 Are sweet as hers we love.", "", "7 Come to the luxuriant skies", "8 Whilst the landscape's odours rise,", "9 Whilst far-off lowing herds are heard,", "10 And songs, when toil is done,", "11 From cottages whose smoke unstirred", "12 Curls yellow in the sun.", "", "13 Star of lover's soft interviews,", "14 Parted lovers on thee muse;", "15 Their remembrancer in heaven", "16 Of thrilling vows thou art,", "17 Too delicious to be riven", "18 By absence from the heart." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "The Song of the Shirt", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "With fingers weary and worn,", "With eyelids heavy and red,", "A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,", "Plying her needle and thread--", "Stitch! stitch! stitch!", "In poverty, hunger, and dirt,", "And still with a voice of dolorous pitch", "She sang the \"Song of the Shirt.\"", "", "\"Work! work! work!", "While the cock is crowing aloof!", "And work — work — work,", "Till the stars shine through the roof!", "It's Oh! to be a slave", "Along with the barbarous Turk,", "Where woman has never a soul to save,", "If this is Christian work!", "", "\"Work — work — work", "Till the brain begins to swim;", "Work — work — work", "Till the eyes are heavy and dim!", "Seam, and gusset, and band,", "Band, and gusset, and seam,", "Till over the buttons I fall asleep,", "And sew them on in a dream!", "", "\"Oh, Men, with Sisters dear!", "Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives!", "It is not linen you're wearing out,", "But human creatures' lives!", "Stitch — stitch — stitch,", "In poverty, hunger, and dirt,", "Sewing at once with a double thread,", "A Shroud as well as a Shirt.", "", "But why do I talk of Death?", "That Phantom of grisly bone,", "I hardly fear its terrible shape,", "It seems so like my own —", "It seems so like my own,", "Because of the fasts I keep;", "Oh, God! that bread should be so dear,", "And flesh and blood so cheap!", "", "\"Work — work — work!", "My Labour never flags;", "And what are its wages? A bed of straw,", "A crust of bread — and rags.", "That shatter'd roof — and this naked floor —", "A table — a broken chair —", "And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank", "For sometimes falling there!", "", "\"Work — work — work!", "From weary chime to chime,", "Work — work — work!", "As prisoners work for crime!", "Band, and gusset, and seam,", "Seam, and gusset, and band,", "Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumb'd,", "As well as the weary hand.", "", "\"Work — work — work,", "In the dull December light,", "And work — work — work,", "When the weather is warm and bright —", "While underneath the eaves", "The brooding swallows cling", "As if to show me their sunny backs", "And twit me with the spring.", "", "Oh! but to breathe the breath", "Of the cowslip and primrose sweet —", "With the sky above my head,", "And the grass beneath my feet", "For only one short hour", "To feel as I used to feel,", "Before I knew the woes of want", "And the walk that costs a meal!", "", "Oh! but for one short hour!", "A respite however brief!", "No blessed leisure for Love or Hope,", "But only time for Grief!", "A little weeping would ease my heart,", "But in their briny bed", "My tears must stop, for every drop", "Hinders needle and thread!\"", "", "With fingers weary and worn,", "With eyelids heavy and red,", "A woman sat in unwomanly rags,", "Plying her needle and thread —", "Stitch! stitch! stitch!", "In poverty, hunger, and dirt,", "And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, —", "Would that its tone could reach the Rich! —", "She sang this \"Song of the Shirt!\"" ], "linecount": "89" }, { "title": "The Song of Fionnuala", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Silent, oh Moyle, be the roar of thy water,", "Break not, ye breezes, your chain of repose,", "While, murmuring mournfully, Lir's lonely daughter", "Tell's to the night-star her tale of woes.", "When shall the swan, her death-note singing,", "Sleep, with wings in darkness furl'd?", "When will heaven, its sweet bell ringing,", "Call my spirit from this stormy world?", "", "Sadly, oh Moyle, to thy winter-wave weeping,", "Fate bids me languish long ages away;", "Yet still in her darkness doth Erin lie sleeping,", "Still doth the pure light its dawning delay.", "When will that day-star, mildly springing,", "Warm our isle with peace and love?", "When will heaven, its sweet bell ringing,", "Call my spirit to the fields above?" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "War Song", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Remember the Glories of Brien the Brave", "", "", "Remember the glories of Brien the brave,", "Though the days of the hero are o'er,", "Though lost to Mononia and cold to the grave,", "He returns to Kinkora no more.", "That star of the field, which so often hath pour'd", "Its beam on the battle, is set;", "But enough of its glory remains on each sword,", "To light us to victory yet.", "", "Mononia! when Nature embellish'd the tint", "Of thy fields, and thy mountains so fair,", "Did she ever intend that a tyrant should print", "The footstep of slavery there?", "No! Freedom, whose smile we shall never resign,", "Go, tell our invaders, the Danes,", "That 'tis sweeter to bleed for an age at thy shrine,", "Than to sleep but a moment in chains.", "", "Forget not our wounded companions who stoood", "In the day of distress by our side;", "While the moss of the valley grew red with their blood,", "They stirr'd not, but conquer'd and died.", "That sun which now blesses our arms with his light,", "Saw them fall upon Ossory's plain; --", "Oh! let him not blush, when he leaves us to-night,", "To find that they fell there in vain." ], "linecount": "25" }, { "title": "Song of the Battle Eve", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "(Time -- the Ninth Century)", "", "", "To-morrow, comrade, we", "On the battle-plain must be,", "There to conquer, or both lie low!", "The morning star is up --", "But there's wine still in the cup,", "And we'll take another quaff, ere we go, boy, go;", "We'll take another quaff, ere we go.", "", "'Tis true, in manliest eyes", "A passing tear will rise,", "When we think of the friends we leave lone;", "But what can wailing do?", "See, our goblet's weeping too!", "With its tears we'll chase away our own, boy, our own;", "With its tears we'll chase away our own.", "", "But daylight's stealing on;", "The last that o'er us shone", "Saw our children around us play;", "The next -- ah! where shall we", "And those rosy urchins be?", "But -- no matter -- grasp thy sword and away, boy, away;", "No matter -- grasp thy sword and away!", "", "Let those, who brook the chain", "Of Saxon or of Dane,", "Ignobly by their fire-sides stay;", "One sigh to home be given,", "One heartfelt prayer to heaven,", "Then, for Erin and her cause, boy, hurra! hurra! hurra!", "Then, for Erin and her cause, hurra!" ], "linecount": "29" }, { "title": "The Song of O'Ruark, Prince of Breffni", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "The valley lay smiling before me,", "Where lately I left her behind;", "Yet I trembled, and something hung o'er me,", "That sadden'd the joy of my mind.", "I look'd for the lamp which, she told me,", "Should shine when her Pilgrim return'd;", "But, though darkness began to infold me,", "No lamp from the battlements burn'd!", "", "I flew to her chamber -- 'twas lonely,", "As if the loved tenant lay dead; --", "Ah, would it were death, and death only!", "But no, the young false one had fled.", "And there hung the lute that could soften", "My very worst pains into bliss;", "While the hand that had waked it so often", "Now throbb'd to a proud rival's kiss.", "", "There was a time, falsest of women,", "When Breffni's good sword would have sought", "That man, through a million of foemen,", "Who dared but to wrong thee in thought!", "While now -- oh degenerate daughter", "Of Erin, how fallen is thy fame!", "And through ages of bondage and slaughter,", "Our country shall bleed for thy shame.", "", "Already the curse is upon her,", "And strangers her valleys profane;", "They come to divide, to dishonour,", "And tyrants they long will remain.", "But onward! --- the green banner rearing,", "Go, flesh every sword to the hilt;", "On our side is Virtue and Erin,", "On theirs is the Saxon and Guilt." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Song of the Open Road.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,", "Healthy, free, the world before me,", "The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.", "", "Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;", "Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,", "Strong and content, I travel the open road.", "", "The earth—that is sufficient;", "I do not want the constellations any nearer;", "I know they are very well where they are;", "I know they suffice for those who belong to them.", "", "(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;", "I carry them, men and women—I carry them with me wherever I go;", "I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them;", "I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)", "", "2", "You road I enter upon and look around! I believe you are not all that is here;", "I believe that much unseen is also here.", "", "Here the profound lesson of reception, neither preference or denial;", "The black with his woolly head, the felon, the diseas’d, the illiterate person, are not", " denied;", "", "The birth, the hasting after the physician, the beggar’s tramp, the drunkard’s stagger,", " the", " laughing party of mechanics,", "The escaped youth, the rich person’s carriage, the fop, the eloping couple,", "The early market-man, the hearse, the moving of furniture into the town, the return back", " from", " the", " town,", "They pass—I also pass—anything passes—none can be interdicted;", "None but are accepted—none but are dear to me.", "", "3", "You air that serves me with breath to speak!", "You objects that call from diffusion my meanings, and give them shape!", "You light that wraps me and all things in delicate equable showers!", "You paths worn in the irregular hollows by the roadsides!", "I think you are latent with unseen existences—you are so dear to me.", "", "You flagg’d walks of the cities! you strong curbs at the edges!", "You ferries! you planks and posts of wharves! you timber-lined sides! you distant ships!", "You rows of houses! you window-pierc’d façades! you roofs!", "You porches and entrances! you copings and iron guards!", "You windows whose transparent shells might expose so much!", "You doors and ascending steps! you arches!", "You gray stones of interminable pavements! you trodden crossings!", "From all that has been near you, I believe you have imparted to yourselves, and now would", " impart the", " same secretly to me;", "From the living and the dead I think you have peopled your impassive surfaces, and the", " spirits", " thereof would be evident and amicable with me.", "", "4", "The earth expanding right hand and left hand,", "The picture alive, every part in its best light,", "The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,", "The cheerful voice of the public road—the gay fresh sentiment of the road.", "", "O highway I travel! O public road! do you say to me, Do not leave me?", "Do you say, Venture not? If you leave me, you are lost?", "Do you say, I am already prepared—I am well-beaten and undenied—adhere to me?", "", "O public road! I say back, I am not afraid to leave you—yet I love you;", "You express me better than I can express myself;", "You shall be more to me than my poem.", "", "I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open air, and all great poems also;", "I think I could stop here myself, and do miracles;", "(My judgments, thoughts, I henceforth try by the open air, the road;)", "I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like", " me;", "I think whoever I see must be happy.", "", "5", "From this hour, freedom!", "From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,", "Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute,", "Listening to others, and considering well what they say,", "Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,", "Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.", "", "I inhale great draughts of space;", "The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.", "", "I am larger, better than I thought;", "I did not know I held so much goodness.", "", "All seems beautiful to me;", "I can repeat over to men and women, You have done such good to me, I would do the same to", " you.", "", "", "I will recruit for myself and you as I go;", "I will scatter myself among men and women as I go;", "I will toss the new gladness and roughness among them;", "Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me;", "Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed, and shall bless me.", "", "6", "Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear, it would not amaze me;", "Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women appear’d, it would not astonish me.", "", "Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,", "It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.", "", "Here a great personal deed has room;", "A great deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole race of men,", "Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law, and mocks all authority and all argument", " against", " it.", "", "Here is the test of wisdom;", "Wisdom is not finally tested in schools;", "Wisdom cannot be pass’d from one having it, to another not having it;", "Wisdom is of the Soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof,", "Applies to all stages and objects and qualities, and is content,", "Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the excellence of things;", "Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the Soul.", "", "Now I reëxamine philosophies and religions,", "They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds, and", " along", " the", " landscape and flowing currents.", "", "Here is realization;", "Here is a man tallied—he realizes here what he has in him;", "The past, the future, majesty, love—if they are vacant of you, you are vacant of them.", "", "Only the kernel of every object nourishes;", "Where is he who tears off the husks for you and me?", "Where is he that undoes stratagems and envelopes for you and me?", "", "Here is adhesiveness—it is not previously fashion’d—it is apropos;", "Do you know what it is, as you pass, to be loved by strangers?", "Do you know the talk of those turning eye-balls?", "", "7", "Here is the efflux of the Soul;", "The efflux of the Soul comes from within, through embower’d gates, ever provoking", " questions:", "These yearnings, why are they? These thoughts in the darkness, why are they?", "Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me, the sun-light expands my blood?", "Why, when they leave me, do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?", "Why are there trees I never walk under, but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?", "(I think they hang there winter and summer on those trees, and always drop fruit as I", " pass;)", "What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers?", "What with some driver, as I ride on the seat by his side?", "What with some fisherman, drawing his seine by the shore, as I walk by, and pause?", "What gives me to be free to a woman’s or man’s good-will? What gives them to be free to", " mine?", "", "8", "The efflux of the Soul is happiness—here is happiness;", "I think it pervades the open air, waiting at all times;", "Now it flows unto us—we are rightly charged.", "", "Here rises the fluid and attaching character;", "The fluid and attaching character is the freshness and sweetness of man and woman;", "(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and sweeter every day out of the roots of", " themselves,", " than it sprouts fresh and sweet continually out of itself.)", "", "Toward the fluid and attaching character exudes the sweat of the love of young and old;", "From it falls distill’d the charm that mocks beauty and attainments;", "Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of contact.", "", "9", "Allons! whoever you are, come travel with me!", "Traveling with me, you find what never tires.", "", "The earth never tires;", "The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first—Nature is rude and incomprehensible", " at", " first;", "", "Be not discouraged—keep on—there are divine things, well envelop’d;", "I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.", "", "Allons! we must not stop here!", "However sweet these laid-up stores—however convenient this dwelling, we cannot remain", " here;", "However shelter’d this port, and however calm these waters, we must not anchor here;", "However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us, we are permitted to receive it but a", " little", " while.", "", "10", "Allons! the inducements shall be greater;", "We will sail pathless and wild seas;", "We will go where winds blow, waves dash, and the Yankee clipper speeds by under full sail.", "", "", "Allons! with power, liberty, the earth, the elements!", "Health, defiance, gayety, self-esteem, curiosity;", "Allons! from all formules!", "From your formules, O bat-eyed and materialistic priests!", "", "The stale cadaver blocks up the passage—the burial waits no longer.", "", "Allons! yet take warning!", "He traveling with me needs the best blood, thews, endurance;", "None may come to the trial, till he or she bring courage and health.", "", "Come not here if you have already spent the best of yourself;", "Only those may come, who come in sweet and determin’d bodies;", "No diseas’d person—no rum-drinker or venereal taint is permitted here.", "", "I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes, rhymes;", "We convince by our presence.", "", "11", "Listen! I will be honest with you;", "I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough new prizes;", "These are the days that must happen to you:", "", "You shall not heap up what is call’d riches,", "You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,", "You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d—you hardly settle yourself to", " satisfaction, before you are call’d by an irresistible call to depart,", "You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mockings of those who remain behind you;", "What beckonings of love you receive, you shall only answer with passionate kisses of", " parting,", "You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reach’d hands toward you.", "", "12", "Allons! after the GREAT COMPANIONS! and to belong to them!", "They too are on the road! they are the swift and majestic men; they are the greatest", " women.", "Over that which hinder’d them—over that which retarded—passing impediments large or small,", "", "Committers of crimes, committers of many beautiful virtues,", "Enjoyers of calms of seas, and storms of seas,", "Sailors of many a ship, walkers of many a mile of land,", "Habitués of many distant countries, habitués of far-distant dwellings,", "Trusters of men and women, observers of cities, solitary toilers,", "Pausers and contemplators of tufts, blossoms, shells of the shore,", "Dancers at wedding-dances, kissers of brides, tender helpers of children, bearers of", " children,", "", "Soldiers of revolts, standers by gaping graves, lowerers down of coffins,", "Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the years—the curious years, each emerging from", " that", " which preceded it,", "Journeyers as with companions, namely, their own diverse phases,", "Forth-steppers from the latent unrealized baby-days,", "Journeyers gayly with their own youth—Journeyers with their bearded and well-grain’d", " manhood,", "Journeyers with their womanhood, ample, unsurpass’d, content,", "Journeyers with their own sublime old age of manhood or womanhood,", "Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe,", "Old age, flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.", "", "13", "Allons! to that which is endless, as it was beginningless,", "To undergo much, tramps of days, rests of nights,", "To merge all in the travel they tend to, and the days and nights they tend to,", "Again to merge them in the start of superior journeys;", "To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach it and pass it,", "To conceive no time, however distant, but what you may reach it and pass it,", "To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you—however long, but it", " stretches", " and", " waits for you;", "To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,", "To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or", " purchase—abstracting", " the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;", "To take the best of the farmer’s farm and the rich man’s elegant villa, and the chaste", " blessings", " of the well-married couple, and the fruits of orchards and flowers of gardens,", "To take to your use out of the compact cities as you pass through,", "To carry buildings and streets with you afterward wherever you go,", "To gather the minds of men out of their brains as you encounter them—to gather the love", " out of", " their hearts,", "To take your lovers on the road with you, for all that you leave them behind you,", "To know the universe itself as a road—as many roads—as roads for traveling souls.", "", "14", "The Soul travels;", "The body does not travel as much as the soul;", "The body has just as great a work as the soul, and parts away at last for the journeys of", " the", " soul.", "", "", "All parts away for the progress of souls;", "All religion, all solid things, arts, governments,—all that was or is apparent upon this", " globe", " or", " any globe, falls into niches and corners before the procession of Souls along the grand", " roads", " of", " the", " universe.", "", "Of the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of the universe, all", " other", " progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.", "", "Forever alive, forever forward,", "Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad, turbulent, feeble, dissatisfied,", "Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men, rejected by men,", "They go! they go! I know that they go, but I know not where they go;", "But I know that they go toward the best—toward something great.", "", "15", "Allons! whoever you are! come forth!", "You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house, though you built it, or though", " it", " has", " been built for you.", "", "Allons! out of the dark confinement!", "It is useless to protest—I know all, and expose it.", "", "Behold, through you as bad as the rest,", "Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,", "Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those wash’d and trimm’d faces,", "Behold a secret silent loathing and despair.", "", "No husband, no wife, no friend, trusted to hear the confession;", "Another self, a duplicate of every one, skulking and hiding it goes,", "Formless and wordless through the streets of the cities, polite and bland in the parlors,", "In the cars of rail-roads, in steamboats, in the public assembly,", "Home to the houses of men and women, at the table, in the bed-room, everywhere,", "Smartly attired, countenance smiling, form upright, death under the breast-bones, hell", " under", " the", " skull-bones,", "Under the broadcloth and gloves, under the ribbons and artificial flowers,", "Keeping fair with the customs, speaking not a syllable of itself,", "Speaking of anything else, but never of itself.", "", "16", "Allons! through struggles and wars!", "The goal that was named cannot be countermanded.", "", "Have the past struggles succeeded?", "What has succeeded? yourself? your nation? nature?", "Now understand me well—It is provided in the essence of things, that from any fruition of", " success,", " no matter what, shall come forth something to make a greater struggle necessary.", "", "My call is the call of battle—I nourish active rebellion;", "He going with me must go well arm’d;", "He going with me goes often with spare diet, poverty, angry enemies, desertions.", "", "17", "Allons! the road is before us!", "It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well.", "", "Allons! be not detain’d!", "Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!", "Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn’d!", "Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!", "Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge", " expound", " the", " law.", "", "Mon enfant! I give you my hand!", "I give you my love, more precious than money,", "I give you myself, before preaching or law;", "Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?", "Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?" ], "linecount": "313" }, { "title": "Song of the Exposition.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "AFTER all, not to create only, or found only,", "But to bring, perhaps from afar, what is already founded,", "To give it our own identity, average, limitless, free;", "To fill the gross, the torpid bulk with vital religious fire;", "Not to repel or destroy, so much as accept, fuse, rehabilitate;", "To obey, as well as command—to follow, more than to lead;", "These also are the lessons of our New World;", "—While how little the New, after all—how much the Old, Old World!", "", "Long, long, long, has the grass been growing,", "Long and long has the rain been falling,", "Long has the globe been rolling round.", "", "2", "Come, Muse, migrate from Greece and Ionia;", "Cross out, please, those immensely overpaid accounts,", "That matter of Troy, and Achilles’ wrath, and Eneas’, Odysseus’ wanderings;", "Placard “Removed” and “To Let” on the rocks of your snowy", " Parnassus;", "Repeat at Jerusalem—place the notice high on Jaffa’s gate, and on Mount Moriah;", "The same on the walls of your Gothic European Cathedrals, and German, French and Spanish", " Castles;", "For know a better, fresher, busier sphere—a wide, untried domain awaits, demands you.", "", "3", "Responsive to our summons,", "Or rather to her long-nurs’d inclination,", "Join’d with an irresistible, natural gravitation,", "", "She comes! this famous Female—as was indeed to be expected;", "(For who, so-ever youthful, ’cute and handsome, would wish to stay in mansions such as", " those,", "", "When offer’d quarters with all the modern improvements,", "With all the fun that ’s going—and all the best society?)", "", "She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown;", "I scent the odor of her breath’s delicious fragrance;", "I mark her step divine—her curious eyes a-turning, rolling,", "Upon this very scene.", "", "The Dame of Dames! can I believe, then,", "Those ancient temples classic, and castles strong and feudalistic,", "could none of them restrain her?", "Nor shades of Virgil and Dante—nor myriad memories, poems, old associations, magnetize and", " hold on to her?", "But that she ’s left them all—and here?", "", "Yes, if you will allow me to say so,", "I, my friends, if you do not, can plainly see Her,", "The same Undying Soul of Earth’s, activity’s, beauty’s, heroism’s Expression,", "Out from her evolutions hither come—submerged the strata of her former themes,", "Hidden and cover’d by to-day’s—foundation of to-day’s;", "Ended, deceas’d, through time, her voice by Castaly’s fountain;", "Silent through time the broken-lipp’d Sphynx in Egypt—silent those century-baffling tombs;", "", "Closed for aye the epics of Asia’s, Europe’s helmeted warriors;", "Calliope’s call for ever closed—Clio, Melpomene, Thalia closed and dead;", "Seal’d the stately rhythmus of Una and Oriana—ended the quest of the Holy Graal;", "Jerusalem a handful of ashes blown by the wind—extinct;", "The Crusaders’ streams of shadowy, midnight troops, sped with the sunrise;", "Amadis, Tancred, utterly gone—Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver gone,", "Palmerin, ogre, departed—vanish’d the turrets that Usk reflected,", "Arthur vanish’d with all his knights—Merlin and Lancelot and Galahad—all", " gone—dissolv’d utterly, like an exhalation;", "Pass’d! pass’d! for us, for ever pass’d! that once so mighty World—now void, inanimate,", " phantom World!", "", "Embroider’d, dazzling World! with all its gorgeous legends, myths,", "Its kings and barons proud—its priests, and warlike lords, and courtly dames;", "Pass’d to its charnel vault—laid on the shelf—coffin’d, with Crown and Armor on,", "Blazon’d with Shakspeare’s purple page,", "And dirged by Tennyson’s sweet sad rhyme.", "", "I say I see, my friends, if you do not, the Animus of all that World,", "Escaped, bequeath’d, vital, fugacious as ever, leaving those dead remains, and now this", " spot", " approaching, filling;", "—And I can hear what maybe you do not—a terrible aesthetical commotion,", "With howling, desperate gulp of “flower” and “bower,”", "With “Sonnet to Matilda’s Eyebrow” quite, quite frantic;", "With gushing, sentimental reading circles turn’d to ice or stone;", "With many a squeak, (in metre choice,) from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, London;", "As she, the illustrious Emigré, (having, it is true, in her day, although the same,", " changed,", " journey’d considerable,)", "Making directly for this rendezvous—vigorously clearing a path for herself—striding", " through", " the confusion,", "By thud of machinery and shrill steam-whistle undismay’d,", "Bluff’d not a bit by drain-pipe, gasometers, artificial fertilizers,", "Smiling and pleased, with palpable intent to stay,", "She ’s here, install’d amid the kitchen ware!", "", "4", "But hold—don’t I forget my manners?", "To introduce the Stranger (what else indeed have I come for?) to thee, Columbia:", "In Liberty’s name, welcome, Immortal! clasp hands,", "And ever henceforth Sisters dear be both.", "", "Fear not, O Muse! truly new ways and days receive, surround you,", "(I candidly confess, a queer, queer race, of novel fashion,)", "And yet the same old human race—the same within, without,", "Faces and hearts the same—feelings the same—yearnings the same,", "The same old love—beauty and use the same.", "", "5", "We do not blame thee, Elder World—nor separate ourselves from thee:", "(Would the Son separate himself from the Father?)", "Looking back on thee—seeing thee to thy duties, grandeurs, through past ages bending,", " building,", "We build to ours to-day.", "", "Mightier than Egypt’s tombs,", "Fairer than Grecia’s, Roma’s temples,", "Prouder than Milan’s statued, spired Cathedral,", "More picturesque than Rhenish castle-keeps,", "We plan, even now, to raise, beyond them all,", "Thy great Cathedral, sacred Industry—no tomb,", "A Keep for life for practical Invention.", "", "As in a waking vision,", "E’en while I chant, I see it rise—I scan and prophesy outside and in,", "Its manifold ensemble.", "", "6", "Around a Palace,", "Loftier, fairer, ampler than any yet,", "Earth’s modern Wonder, History’s Seven outstripping,", "High rising tier on tier, with glass and iron façades.", "", "Gladdening the sun and sky—enhued in cheerfulest hues,", "Bronze, lilac, robin’s-egg, marine and crimson,", "Over whose golden roof shall flaunt, beneath thy banner, Freedom,", "The banners of The States, the flags of every land,", "A brood of lofty, fair, but lesser Palaces shall cluster.", "", "Somewhere within the walls of all,", "Shall all that forwards perfect human life be started,", "Tried, taught, advanced, visibly exhibited.", "", "Here shall you trace in flowing operation,", "In every state of practical, busy movement,", "The rills of Civilization.", "", "Materials here, under your eye, shall change their shape, as if by magic;", "The cotton shall be pick’d almost in the very field,", "Shall be dried, clean’d, ginn’d, baled, spun into thread and cloth, before you:", "You shall see hands at work at all the old processes, and all the new ones;", "You shall see the various grains, and how flour is made, and then bread baked by the", " bakers;", "You shall see the crude ores of California and Nevada passing on and on till they become", " bullion;", "You shall watch how the printer sets type, and learn what a composing stick is;", "You shall mark, in amazement, the Hoe press whirling its cylinders, shedding the printed", " leaves", " steady and fast:", "The photograph, model, watch, pin, nail, shall be created before you.", "", "In large calm halls, a stately Museum shall teach you the infinite, solemn lessons of", " Minerals;", "", "In another, woods, plants, Vegetation shall be illustrated—in another Animals, animal life", " and development.", "", "One stately house shall be the Music House;", "Others for other Arts—Learning, the Sciences, shall all be here;", "None shall be slighted—none but shall here be honor’d, help’d, exampled.", "", "7", "This, this and these, America, shall be your Pyramids and Obelisks,", "Your Alexandrian Pharos, gardens of Babylon,", "Your temple at Olympia.", "", "The male and female many laboring not,", "Shall ever here confront the laboring many,", "With precious benefits to both—glory to all,", "To thee, America—and thee, Eternal Muse.", "", "And here shall ye inhabit, Powerful Matrons!", "In your vast state, vaster than all the old;", "Echoed through long, long centuries to come,", "To sound of different, prouder songs, with stronger themes,", "Practical, peaceful life—the people’s life—the People themselves,", "Lifted, illumin’d, bathed in peace—elate, secure in peace.", "", "8", "Away with themes of war! away with War itself!", "Hence from my shuddering sight, to never more return, that show of blacken’d, mutilated", " corpses!", "That hell unpent, and raid of blood—fit for wild tigers, or for lop-tongued wolves—not", " reasoning men!", "And in its stead speed Industry’s campaigns!", "With thy undaunted armies, Engineering!", "Thy pennants, Labor, loosen’d to the breeze!", "Thy bugles sounding loud and clear!", "", "Away with old romance!", "Away with novels, plots, and plays of foreign courts!", "Away with love-verses, sugar’d in rhyme—the intrigues, amours of idlers,", "Fitted for only banquets of the night, where dancers to late music slide;", "The unhealthy pleasures, extravagant dissipations of the few,", "With perfumes, heat and wine, beneath the dazzling chandeliers.", "", "9", "To you, ye Reverent, sane Sisters,", "To this resplendent day, the present scene,", "These eyes and ears that like some broad parterre bloom up around, before me,", "I raise a voice for far superber themes for poets and for Art,", "To exalt the present and the real,", "To teach the average man the glory of his daily walk and trade,", "To sing, in songs, how exercise and chemical life are never to be baffled;", "Boldly to thee, America, to-day! and thee, Immortal Muse!", "To practical, manual work, for each and all—to plough, hoe, dig,", "To plant and tend the tree, the berry, the vegetables, flowers,", "For every man to see to it that he really do something—for every woman too;", "To use the hammer, and the saw, (rip or cross-cut,)", "To cultivate a turn for carpentering, plastering, painting,", "To work as tailor, tailoress, nurse, hostler, porter,", "To invent a little—something ingenious—to aid the washing, cooking, cleaning,", "And hold it no disgrace to take a hand at them themselves.", "", "I say I bring thee, Muse, to-day and here,", "All occupations, duties broad and close,", "Toil, healthy toil and sweat, endless, without cessation,", "The old, old general burdens, interests, joys,", "The family, parentage, childhood, husband and wife,", "The house-comforts—the house itself, and all its belongings,", "Food and its preservations—chemistry applied to it;", "Whatever forms the average, strong, complete, sweet-blooded Man or Woman—the perfect,", " longeve", " Personality,", "And helps its present life to health and happiness—and shapes its Soul,", "For the eternal Real Life to come.", "", "With latest materials, works,", "Steam-power, the great Express lines, gas, petroleum,", "These triumphs of our time, the Atlantic’s delicate cable,", "The Pacific Railroad, the Suez canal, the Mont Cenis tunnel;", "Science advanced, in grandeur and reality, analyzing every thing,", "This world all spann’d with iron rails—with lines of steamships", "threading every sea,", "Our own Rondure, the current globe I bring.", "", "10", "And thou, high-towering One—America!", "Thy swarm of offspring towering high—yet higher thee, above all towering,", "With Victory on thy left, and at thy right hand Law;", "Thou Union, holding all—fusing, absorbing, tolerating all,", "Thee, ever thee, I bring.", "", "Thou—also thou, a world!", "With all thy wide geographies, manifold, different, distant,", "Rounding by thee in One—one common orbic language,", "One common indivisible destiny and Union.", "", "11", "And by the spells which ye vouchsafe,", "To those, your ministers in earnest,", "I here personify and call my themes,", "To make them pass before ye.", "", "Behold, America! (And thou, ineffable Guest and Sister!)", "For thee come trooping up thy waters and thy lands:", "Behold! thy fields and farms, thy far-off woods and mountains,", "As in procession coming.", "", "Behold! the sea itself!", "And on its limitless, heaving breast, thy ships:", "See! where their white sails, bellying in the wind, speckle the green and blue!", "See! thy steamers coming and going, steaming in or out of port!", "See! dusky and undulating, their long pennants of smoke!", "", "Behold, in Oregon, far in the north and west,", "Or in Maine, far in the north and east, thy cheerful axemen,", "Wielding all day their axes!", "", "Behold, on the lakes, thy pilots at their wheels—thy oarsmen!", "Behold how the ash writhes under those muscular arms!", "", "There by the furnace, and there by the anvil,", "Behold thy sturdy blacksmiths, swinging their sledges;", "Overhand so steady—overhand they turn and fall, with joyous clank,", "Like a tumult of laughter.", "", "Behold! (for still the procession moves,)", "Behold, Mother of All, thy countless sailors, boatmen, coasters!", "The myriads of thy young and old mechanics!", "Mark—mark the spirit of invention everywhere—thy rapid patents,", "Thy continual workshops, foundries, risen or rising;", "See, from their chimneys, how the tall flame-fires stream!", "", "Mark, thy interminable farms, North, South,", "Thy wealthy Daughter-States, Eastern, and Western,", "The varied products of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia, Texas, and the rest;", "Thy limitless crops—grass, wheat, sugar, corn, rice, hemp, hops,", "Thy barns all fill’d—thy endless freight-trains, and thy bulging store-houses,", "The grapes that ripen on thy vines—the apples in thy orchards,", "Thy incalculable lumber, beef, pork, potatoes—thy coal—thy gold and silver,", "The inexhaustible iron in thy mines.", "", "12", "All thine, O sacred Union!", "Ship, farm, shop, barns, factories, mines,", "City and State—North, South, item and aggregate,", "We dedicate, dread Mother, all to thee!", "", "Protectress absolute, thou! Bulwark of all!", "For well we know that while thou givest each and all, (generous as God,)", "Without thee, neither all nor each, nor land, home,", "Ship, nor mine—nor any here, this day, secure,", "Nor aught, nor any day secure.", "", "13", "And thou, thy Emblem, waving over all!", "Delicate beauty! a word to thee, (it may be salutary;)", "Remember, thou hast not always been, as here to-day, so comfortably ensovereign’d;", "In other scenes than these have I observ’d thee, flag;", "Not quite so trim and whole, and freshly blooming, in folds of stainless silk;", "But I have seen thee, bunting, to tatters torn, upon thy splinter’d staff,", "Or clutch’d to some young color-bearer’s breast, with desperate hands,", "Savagely struggled for, for life or death—fought over long,", "’Mid cannon’s thunder-crash, and many a curse, and groan and yell—and rifle-volleys", " cracking sharp,", "And moving masses, as wild demons surging—and lives as nothing risk’d,", "For thy mere remnant, grimed with dirt and smoke, and sopp’d in blood;", "For sake of that, my beauty—and that thou might’st dally, as now, secure up there,", "Many a good man have I seen go under.", "", "14", "Now here, and these, and hence, in peace all thine, O Flag!", "And here, and hence, for thee, O universal Muse! and thou for them!", "And here and hence, O Union, all the work and workmen thine!", "The poets, women, sailors, soldiers, farmers, miners, students thine!", "None separate from Thee—henceforth one only, we and Thou;", "(For the blood of the children—what is it only the blood Maternal?", "And lives and works—what are they all at last except the roads to Faith and Death?)", "", "While we rehearse our measureless wealth, it is for thee, dear Mother!", "We own it all and several to-day indissoluble in Thee;", "—Think not our chant, our show, merely for products gross, or lucre—it is for Thee, the", " Soul, electric, spiritual!", "Our farms, inventions, crops, we own in Thee! Cities and States in Thee!", "Our freedom all in Thee! our very lives in Thee!" ], "linecount": "298" }, { "title": "In Former Songs.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "IN former songs Pride have I sung, and Love, and passionate, joyful Life,", "But here I twine the strands of Patriotism and Death.", "", "And now, Life, Pride, Love, Patriotism and Death,", "To you, O FREEDOM, purport of all!", "(You that elude me most—refusing to be caught in songs of mine,)", "I offer all to you.", "", "2", "’Tis not for nothing, Death,", "I sound out you, and words of you, with daring tone—embodying you,", "In my new Democratic chants—keeping you for a close,", "For last impregnable retreat—a citadel and tower,", "For my last stand—my pealing, final cry." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "Song for All Seas, All Ships.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "TO-DAY a rude brief recitative,", "Of ships sailing the Seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal;", "Of unnamed heroes in the ships—Of waves spreading and spreading, far as the eye can reach;", "", "Of dashing spray, and the winds piping and blowing;", "And out of these a chant, for the sailors of all nations,", "Fitful, like a surge.", "", "Of Sea-Captains young or old, and the Mates—and of all intrepid Sailors;", "Of the few, very choice, taciturn, whom fate can never surprise, nor death dismay,", "Pick’d sparingly, without noise, by thee, old Ocean—chosen by thee,", "Thou Sea, that pickest and cullest the race, in Time, and unitest Nations!", "Suckled by thee, old husky Nurse—embodying thee!", "Indomitable, untamed as thee.", "", "(Ever the heroes, on water or on land, by ones or twos appearing,", "Ever the stock preserv’d, and never lost, though rare—enough for seed preserv’d.)", "", "2", "Flaunt out O Sea, your separate flags of nations!", "Flaunt out, visible as ever, the various ship-signals!", "But do you reserve especially for yourself, and for the soul of man, one flag above all", " the", " rest,", "A spiritual woven Signal, for all nations, emblem of man elate above death,", "Token of all brave captains, and all intrepid sailors and mates,", "And all that went down doing their duty;", "Reminiscent of them—twined from all intrepid captains, young or old;", "A pennant universal, subtly waving, all time, o’er all brave sailors,", "All seas, all ships." ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "Song of the Universal.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "COME, said the Muse,", "Sing me a song no poet yet has chanted,", "Sing me the Universal.", "", "In this broad Earth of ours,", "Amid the measureless grossness and the slag,", "Enclosed and safe within its central heart,", "Nestles the seed Perfection.", "", "By every life a share, or more or less,", "None born but it is born—conceal’d or unconceal’d, the seed is waiting.", "", "2", "Lo! keen-eyed, towering Science!", "As from tall peaks the Modern overlooking,", "Successive, absolute fiats issuing.", "", "Yet again, lo! the Soul—above all science;", "For it, has History gather’d like a husk around the globe;", "For it, the entire star-myriads roll through the sky.", "", "In spiral roads, by long detours,", "(As a much-tacking ship upon the sea,)", "For it, the partial to the permanent flowing,", "For it, the Real to the Ideal tends.", "", "For it, the mystic evolution;", "Not the right only justified—what we call evil also justified.", "", "Forth from their masks, no matter what,", "From the huge, festering trunk—from craft and guile and tears,", "Health to emerge, and joy—joy universal.", "", "Out of the bulk, the morbid and the shallow,", "Out of the bad majority—the varied, countless frauds of men and States,", "", "Electric, antiseptic yet—cleaving, suffusing all,", "Only the good is universal.", "", "3", "Over the mountain growths, disease and sorrow,", "An uncaught bird is ever hovering, hovering,", "High in the purer, happier air.", "", "From imperfection’s murkiest cloud,", "Darts always forth one ray of perfect light,", "One flash of Heaven’s glory.", "", "To fashion’s, custom’s discord,", "To the mad Babel-din, the deafening orgies,", "Soothing each lull, a strain is heard, just heard,", "From some far shore, the final chorus sounding.", "", "4", "O the blest eyes! the happy hearts!", "That see—that know the guiding thread so fine,", "Along the mighty labyrinth!", "", "5", "And thou, America!", "For the Scheme’s culmination—its Thought, and its Reality,", "For these, (not for thyself,) Thou hast arrived.", "", "Thou too surroundest all;", "Embracing, carrying, welcoming all, Thou too, by pathways broad and new,", "To the Ideal tendest.", "", "The measur’d faiths of other lands—the grandeurs of the past,", "Are not for Thee—but grandeurs of Thine own;", "Deific faiths and amplitudes, absorbing, comprehending all,", "All eligible to all.", "", "All, all for Immortality!", "Love, like the light, silently wrapping all!", "Nature’s amelioration blessing all!", "The blossoms, fruits of ages—orchards divine and certain;", "Forms, objects, growths, humanities, to spiritual Images ripening.", "", "6", "Give me, O God, to sing that thought!", "Give me—give him or her I love, this quenchless faith", "In Thy ensemble. Whatever else withheld, withhold not from us,", "Belief in plan of Thee enclosed in Time and Space;", "Health, peace, salvation universal.", "", "Is it a dream?", "Nay, but the lack of it the dream,", "And, failing it, life’s lore and wealth a dream,", "And all the world a dream." ], "linecount": "71" }, { "title": "Song of the Broad-Axe.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "WEAPON, shapely, naked, wan!", "Head from the mother’s bowels drawn!", "Wooded flesh and metal bone! limb only one, and lip only one!", "Gray-blue leaf by red-heat grown! helve produced from a little seed sown!", "Resting the grass amid and upon,", "To be lean’d, and to lean on.", "", "Strong shapes, and attributes of strong shapes—masculine trades, sights and sounds;", "Long varied train of an emblem, dabs of music;", "Fingers of the organist skipping staccato over the keys of the great organ.", "", "2", "Welcome are all earth’s lands, each for its kind;", "Welcome are lands of pine and oak;", "Welcome are lands of the lemon and fig;", "Welcome are lands of gold;", "Welcome are lands of wheat and maize—welcome those of the grape;", "Welcome are lands of sugar and rice;", "Welcome the cotton-lands—welcome those of the white potato and sweet potato;", "Welcome are mountains, flats, sands, forests, prairies;", "Welcome the rich borders of rivers, table-lands, openings;", "Welcome the measureless grazing-lands—welcome the teeming soil of orchards, flax, honey,", " hemp;", "", "Welcome just as much the other more hard-faced lands;", "Lands rich as lands of gold, or wheat and fruit lands;", "Lands of mines, lands of the manly and rugged ores;", "Lands of coal, copper, lead, tin, zinc;", "LANDS OF IRON! lands of the make of the axe!", "", "3", "The log at the wood-pile, the axe supported by it;", "The sylvan hut, the vine over the doorway, the space clear’d for a garden,", "The irregular tapping of rain down on the leaves, after the storm is lull’d,", "The wailing and moaning at intervals, the thought of the sea,", "The thought of ships struck in the storm, and put on their beam ends, and the cutting away", " of", " masts;", "", "The sentiment of the huge timbers of old-fashion’d houses and barns;", "The remember’d print or narrative, the voyage at a venture of men, families, goods,", "The disembarkation, the founding of a new city,", "The voyage of those who sought a New England and found it—the outset anywhere,", "The settlements of the Arkansas, Colorado, Ottawa, Willamette,", "The slow progress, the scant fare, the axe, rifle, saddle-bags;", "The beauty of all adventurous and daring persons,", "The beauty of wood-boys and wood-men, with their clear untrimm’d faces,", "The beauty of independence, departure, actions that rely on themselves,", "The American contempt for statutes and ceremonies, the boundless impatience of restraint,", "", "The loose drift of character, the inkling through random types, the solidification;", "The butcher in the slaughter-house, the hands aboard schooners and sloops, the raftsman,", " the", " pioneer,", "Lumbermen in their winter camp, day-break in the woods, stripes of snow on the limbs of", " trees,", " the", " occasional snapping,", "The glad clear sound of one’s own voice, the merry song, the natural life of the woods,", " the", " strong", " day’s work,", "The blazing fire at night, the sweet taste of supper, the talk, the bed of hemlock boughs,", " and", " the", " bear-skin;", "—The house-builder at work in cities or anywhere,", "The preparatory jointing, squaring, sawing, mortising,", "The hoist-up of beams, the push of them in their places, laying them regular,", "Setting the studs by their tenons in the mortises, according as they were prepared,", "The blows of mallets and hammers, the attitudes of the men, their curv’d limbs,", "Bending, standing, astride the beams, driving in pins, holding on by posts and braces,", "The hook’d arm over the plate, the other arm wielding the axe,", "The floor-men forcing the planks close, to be nail’d,", "Their postures bringing their weapons downward on the bearers,", "The echoes resounding through the vacant building;", "The huge store-house carried up in the city, well under way,", "The six framing-men, two in the middle, and two at each end, carefully bearing on their", " shoulders a", " heavy stick for a cross-beam,", "The crowded line of masons with trowels in their right hands, rapidly laying the long", " side-wall, two", " hundred feet from front to rear,", "The flexible rise and fall of backs, the continual click of the trowels striking the", " bricks,", "The bricks, one after another, each laid so workmanlike in its place, and set with a knock", " of", " the", " trowel-handle,", "The piles of materials, the mortar on the mortar-boards, and the steady replenishing by", " the", " hod-men;", "—Spar-makers in the spar-yard, the swarming row of well-grown apprentices,", "The swing of their axes on the square-hew’d log, shaping it toward the shape of a mast,", "The brisk short crackle of the steel driven slantingly into the pine,", "The butter-color’d chips flying off in great flakes and slivers,", "The limber motion of brawny young arms and hips in easy costumes;", "The constructor of wharves, bridges, piers, bulk-heads, floats, stays against the sea;", "—The city fireman—the fire that suddenly bursts forth in the close-pack’d square,", "The arriving engines, the hoarse shouts, the nimble stepping and daring,", "The strong command through the fire-trumpets, the falling in line, the rise and fall of", " the", " arms", " forcing the water,", "The slender, spasmic, blue-white jets—the bringing to bear of the hooks and ladders, and", " their", " execution,", "The crash and cut away of connecting wood-work, or through floors, if the fire smoulders", " under", " them,", "", "The crowd with their lit faces, watching—the glare and dense shadows;", "—The forger at his forge-furnace, and the user of iron after him,", "The maker of the axe large and small, and the welder and temperer,", "The chooser breathing his breath on the cold steel, and trying the edge with his thumb,", "The one who clean-shapes the handle, and sets it firmly in the socket;", "The shadowy processions of the portraits of the past users also,", "The primal patient mechanics, the architects and engineers,", "The far-off Assyrian edifice and Mizra edifice,", "The Roman lictors preceding the consuls,", "The antique European warrior with his axe in combat,", "The uplifted arm, the clatter of blows on the helmeted head,", "The death-howl, the limpsey tumbling body, the rush of friend and foe thither,", "The siege of revolted lieges determin’d for liberty,", "The summons to surrender, the battering at castle gates, the truce and parley;", "The sack of an old city in its time,", "The bursting in of mercenaries and bigots tumultuously and disorderly,", "Roar, flames, blood, drunkenness, madness,", "Goods freely rifled from houses and temples, screams of women in the gripe of brigands,", "Craft and thievery of camp-followers, men running, old persons despairing,", "The hell of war, the cruelties of creeds,", "The list of all executive deeds and words, just or unjust,", "The power of personality, just or unjust.", "", "4", "Muscle and pluck forever!", "What invigorates life, invigorates death,", "And the dead advance as much as the living advance,", "And the future is no more uncertain than the present,", "And the roughness of the earth and of man encloses as much as the delicatesse of the earth", " and", " of", " man,", "And nothing endures but personal qualities.", "What do you think endures?", "Do you think the great city endures?", "Or a teeming manufacturing state? or a prepared constitution? or the best-built", " steamships?", "Or hotels of granite and iron? or any chef-d’oeuvres of engineering, forts, armaments?", "", "Away! These are not to be cherish’d for themselves;", "They fill their hour, the dancers dance, the musicians play for them;", "The show passes, all does well enough of course,", "All does very well till one flash of defiance.", "", "The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman;", "If it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world.", "", "5", "The place where the great city stands is not the place of stretch’d wharves, docks,", " manufactures,", " deposits of produce,", "Nor the place of ceaseless salutes of new comers, or the anchor-lifters of the departing,", "", "Nor the place of the tallest and costliest buildings, or shops selling goods from the rest", " of", " the", " earth,", "Nor the place of the best libraries and schools—nor the place where money is plentiest,", "Nor the place of the most numerous population.", "", "Where the city stands with the brawniest breed of orators and bards;", "Where the city stands that is beloved by these, and loves them in return, and understands", " them;", "", "Where no monuments exist to heroes, but in the common words and deeds;", "Where thrift is in its place, and prudence is in its place;", "Where the men and women think lightly of the laws;", "Where the slave ceases, and the master of slaves ceases;", "Where the populace rise at once against the never-ending audacity of elected persons;", "Where fierce men and women pour forth, as the sea to the whistle of death pours its", " sweeping", " and", " unript waves;", "Where outside authority enters always after the precedence of inside authority;", "Where the citizen is always the head and ideal—and President, Mayor, Governor, and what", " not,", " are", " agents for pay;", "Where children are taught to be laws to themselves, and to depend on themselves;", "Where equanimity is illustrated in affairs;", "Where speculations on the Soul are encouraged;", "Where women walk in public processions in the streets, the same as the men,", "Where they enter the public assembly and take places the same as the men;", "Where the city of the faithfulest friends stands;", "Where the city of the cleanliness of the sexes stands;", "Where the city of the healthiest fathers stands;", "Where the city of the best-bodied mothers stands,", "There the great city stands.", "", "6", "How beggarly appear arguments before a defiant deed!", "How the floridness of the materials of cities shrivels before a man’s or woman’s look!", "", "All waits, or goes by default, till a strong being appears;", "A strong being is the proof of the race, and of the ability of the universe;", "When he or she appears, materials are overaw’d,", "The dispute on the Soul stops,", "The old customs and phrases are confronted, turn’d back, or laid away.", "", "What is your money-making now? what can it do now?", "What is your respectability now?", "What are your theology, tuition, society, traditions, statute-books, now?", "Where are your jibes of being now?", "Where are your cavils about the Soul now?", "", "7", "A sterile landscape covers the ore—there is as good as the best, for all the forbidding", " appearance;", "There is the mine, there are the miners;", "The forge-furnace is there, the melt is accomplish’d; the hammers-men are at hand with", " their", " tongs", " and hammers;", "What always served, and always serves, is at hand.", "", "Than this, nothing has better served—it has served all:", "Served the fluent-tongued and subtle-sensed Greek, and long ere the Greek:", "Served in building the buildings that last longer than any;", "Served the Hebrew, the Persian, the most ancient Hindostanee;", "Served the mound-raiser on the Mississippi—served those whose relics remain in Central", " America;", "Served Albic temples in woods or on plains, with unhewn pillars, and the druids;", "Served the artificial clefts, vast, high, silent, on the snow-cover’d hills of", " Scandinavia;", "Served those who, time out of mind, made on the granite walls rough sketches of the sun,", " moon,", " stars, ships, ocean-waves;", "Served the paths of the irruptions of the Goths—served the pastoral tribes and nomads;", "Served the long, long distant Kelt—served the hardy pirates of the Baltic;", "Served before any of those, the venerable and harmless men of Ethiopia;", "Served the making of helms for the galleys of pleasure, and the making of those for war;", "Served all great works on land, and all great works on the sea;", "For the mediæval ages, and before the mediæval ages;", "Served not the living only, then as now, but served the dead.", "", "8", "I see the European headsman;", "He stands mask’d, clothed in red, with huge legs, and strong naked arms,", "And leans on a ponderous axe.", "", "(Whom have you slaughter’d lately, European headsman?", "Whose is that blood upon you, so wet and sticky?)", "", "I see the clear sunsets of the martyrs;", "I see from the scaffolds the descending ghosts,", "Ghosts of dead lords, uncrown’d ladies, impeach’d ministers, rejected kings,", "Rivals, traitors, poisoners, disgraced chieftains, and the rest.", "", "I see those who in any land have died for the good cause;", "The seed is spare, nevertheless the crop shall never run out;", "(Mind you, O foreign kings, O priests, the crop shall never run out.)", "", "I see the blood wash’d entirely away from the axe;", "Both blade and helve are clean;", "They spirt no more the blood of European nobles—they clasp no more the necks of queens.", "", "I see the headsman withdraw and become useless;", "I see the scaffold untrodden and mouldy—I see no longer any axe upon it;", "I see the mighty and friendly emblem of the power of my own race—the newest, largest race.", "", "", "9", "(America! I do not vaunt my love for you;", "I have what I have.)", "", "The axe leaps!", "The solid forest gives fluid utterances;", "They tumble forth, they rise and form,", "Hut, tent, landing, survey,", "Flail, plough, pick, crowbar, spade,", "Shingle, rail, prop, wainscot, jamb, lath, panel, gable,", "Citadel, ceiling, saloon, academy, organ, exhibition-house, library,", "Cornice, trellis, pilaster, balcony, window, shutter, turret, porch,", "Hoe, rake, pitch-fork, pencil, wagon, staff, saw, jack-plane, mallet, wedge, rounce,", "Chair, tub, hoop, table, wicket, vane, sash, floor,", "Work-box, chest, string’d instrument, boat, frame, and what not,", "Capitols of States, and capitol of the nation of States,", "Long stately rows in avenues, hospitals for orphans, or for the poor or sick,", "Manhattan steamboats and clippers, taking the measure of all seas.", "", "The shapes arise!", "Shapes of the using of axes anyhow, and the users, and all that neighbors them,", "Cutters down of wood, and haulers of it to the Penobscot or Kennebec,", "Dwellers in cabins among the California mountains, or by the little lakes, or on the", " Columbia,", "", "Dwellers south on the banks of the Gila or Rio Grande—friendly gatherings, the characters", " and", " fun,", "", "Dwellers up north in Minnesota and by the Yellowstone river—dwellers on coasts and off", " coasts,", "Seal-fishers, whalers, arctic seamen breaking passages through the ice.", "", "The shapes arise!", "Shapes of factories, arsenals, foundries, markets;", "Shapes of the two-threaded tracks of railroads;", "Shapes of the sleepers of bridges, vast frameworks, girders, arches;", "Shapes of the fleets of barges, towns, lake and canal craft, river craft.", "", "The shapes arise!", "Ship-yards and dry-docks along the Eastern and Western Seas, and in many a bay and", " by-place,", "The live-oak kelsons, the pine planks, the spars, the hackmatack-roots for knees,", "The ships themselves on their ways, the tiers of scaffolds, the workmen busy outside and", " inside,", "The tools lying around, the great auger and little auger, the adze, bolt, line, square,", " gouge,", " and", " bead-plane.", "", "10", "The shapes arise!", "The shape measur’d, saw’d, jack’d, join’d, stain’d,", "The coffin-shape for the dead to lie within in his shroud;", "The shape got out in posts, in the bedstead posts, in the posts of the bride’s bed;", "The shape of the little trough, the shape of the rockers beneath, the shape of the babe’s", " cradle;", "", "The shape of the floor-planks, the floor-planks for dancers’ feet;", "The shape of the planks of the family home, the home of the friendly parents and children,", "", "The shape of the roof of the home of the happy young man and woman—the roof over the", " well-married", " young man and woman,", "The roof over the supper joyously cook’d by the chaste wife, and joyously eaten by the", " chaste", " husband, content after his day’s work.", "", "The shapes arise!", "The shape of the prisoner’s place in the court-room, and of him or her seated in the", " place;", "The shape of the liquor-bar lean’d against by the young rum-drinker and the old", " rum-drinker;", "The shape of the shamed and angry stairs, trod by sneaking footsteps;", "The shape of the sly settee, and the adulterous unwholesome couple;", "The shape of the gambling-board with its devilish winnings and losings;", "The shape of the step-ladder for the convicted and sentenced murderer, the murderer with", " haggard", " face and pinion’d arms,", "The sheriff at hand with his deputies, the silent and white-lipp’d crowd, the dangling of", " the", " rope.", "", "The shapes arise!", "Shapes of doors giving many exits and entrances;", "The door passing the dissever’d friend, flush’d and in haste;", "The door that admits good news and bad news;", "The door whence the son left home, confident and puff’d up;", "The door he enter’d again from a long and scandalous absence, diseas’d, broken down,", " without", " innocence, without means.", "", "11", "Her shape arises,", "She, less guarded than ever, yet more guarded than ever;", "The gross and soil’d she moves among do not make her gross and soil’d;", "She knows the thoughts as she passes—nothing is conceal’d from her;", "She is none the less considerate or friendly therefor;", "She is the best belov’d—it is without exception—she has no reason to fear, and she does", " not", " fear;", "Oaths, quarrels, hiccupp’d songs, smutty expressions, are idle to her as she passes;", "She is silent—she is possess’d of herself—they do not offend her;", "She receives them as the laws of nature receive them—she is strong,", "She too is a law of nature—there is no law stronger than she is.", "", "12", "The main shapes arise!", "Shapes of Democracy, total—result of centuries;", "Shapes, ever projecting other shapes;", "Shapes of turbulent manly cities;", "Shapes of the friends and home-givers of the whole earth,", "Shapes bracing the earth, and braced with the whole earth." ], "linecount": "346" }, { "title": "Song of the Redwood-Tree.", "author": "Walt Whitman", "lines": [ "1", "A CALIFORNIA song!", "A prophecy and indirection—a thought impalpable, to breathe, as air;", "A chorus of dryads, fading, departing—or hamadryads departing;", "A murmuring, fateful, giant voice, out of the earth and sky,", "Voice of a mighty dying tree in the Redwood forest dense.", "", "Farewell, my brethren,", "Farewell, O earth and sky—farewell, ye neighboring waters;", "My time has ended, my term has come.", "", "2", "Along the northern coast,", "Just back from the rock-bound shore, and the caves,", "In the saline air from the sea, in the Mendocino country,", "With the surge for bass and accompaniment low and hoarse,", "With crackling blows of axes, sounding musically, driven by strong arms,", "Riven deep by the sharp tongues of the axes—there in the Redwood forest dense,", "I heard the mighty tree its death-chant chanting.", "", "The choppers heard not—the camp shanties echoed not;", "The quick-ear’d teamsters, and chain and jack-screw men, heard not,", "As the wood-spirits came from their haunts of a thousand years, to join the refrain;", "But in my soul I plainly heard.", "", "Murmuring out of its myriad leaves,", "Down from its lofty top, rising two hundred feet high,", "Out of its stalwart trunk and limbs—out of its foot-thick bark,", "That chant of the seasons and time—chant, not of the past only, but the future.", "", "3", "You untold life of me,", "And all you venerable and innocent joys,", "Perennial, hardy life of me, with joys, ’mid rain, and many a summer sun,", "And the white snows, and night, and the wild winds;", "O the great patient, rugged joys! my soul’s strong joys, unreck’d by man;", "(For know I bear the soul befitting me—I too have consciousness, identity,", "And all the rocks and mountains have—and all the earth;)", "Joys of the life befitting me and brothers mine,", "Our time, our term has come.", "", "Nor yield we mournfully, majestic brothers,", "We who have grandly fill’d our time;", "With Nature’s calm content, and tacit, huge delight,", "We welcome what we wrought for through the past,", "And leave the field for them.", "", "For them predicted long,", "For a superber Race—they too to grandly fill their time,", "For them we abdicate—in them ourselves, ye forest kings!", "In them these skies and airs—these mountain peaks—Shasta—Nevadas,", "These huge, precipitous cliffs—this amplitude—these valleys grand—Yosemite,", "To be in them absorb’d, assimilated.", "", "4", "Then to a loftier strain,", "Still prouder, more ecstatic, rose the chant,", "As if the heirs, the Deities of the West,", "Joining, with master-tongue, bore part.", "", "Not wan from Asia’s fetishes,", "Nor red from Europe’s old dynastic slaughter-house,", "(Area of murder-plots of thrones, with scent left yet of wars and scaffolds every", " where,)", "But come from Nature’s long and harmless throes—peacefully builded thence,", "These virgin lands—Lands of the Western Shore,", "To the new Culminating Man—to you, the Empire New,", "You, promis’d long, we pledge, we dedicate.", "", "You occult, deep volitions,", "You average Spiritual Manhood, purpose of all, pois’d on yourself—giving, not taking", " law,", "You Womanhood divine, mistress and source of all, whence life and love, and aught that", " comes", " from life and love,", "You unseen Moral Essence of all the vast materials of America, (age upon age,", " working", " in Death the same as Life,)", "You that, sometimes known, oftener unknown, really shape and mould the New World,", " adjusting", " it to Time and Space,", "You hidden National Will, lying in your abysms, conceal’d, but ever alert,", "You past and present purposes, tenaciously pursued, may-be unconscious of", " yourselves,", "Unswerv’d by all the passing errors, perturbations of the surface;", "You vital, universal, deathless germs, beneath all creeds, arts, statutes,", " literatures,", "", "Here build your homes for good—establish here—These areas entire, Lands of the Western", " Shore,", "We pledge, we dedicate to you.", "", "For man of you—your characteristic Race,", "Here may be hardy, sweet, gigantic grow—here tower, proportionate to Nature,", "Here climb the vast, pure spaces, unconfined, uncheck’d by wall or roof,", "Here laugh with storm or sun—here joy—here patiently inure,", "Here heed himself, unfold himself (not others’ formulas heed)—here fill", " his time,", "To duly fall, to aid, unreck’d at last,", "To disappear, to serve.", "", "Thus, on the northern coast,", "In the echo of teamsters’ calls, and the clinking chains, and the music of choppers’ axes,", "", "The falling trunk and limbs, the crash, the muffled shriek, the groan,", "Such words combined from the Redwood-tree—as of wood-spirits’ voices ecstatic, ancient and", " rustling,", "The century-lasting, unseen dryads, singing, withdrawing,", "All their recesses of forests and mountains leaving,", "From the Cascade range to the Wasatch—or Idaho far, or Utah,", "To the deities of the Modern henceforth yielding,", "The chorus and indications, the vistas of coming humanity—the settlements, features all,", "In the Mendocino woods I caught.", "", "5", "The flashing and golden pageant of California!", "The sudden and gorgeous drama—the sunny and ample lands;", "The long and varied stretch from Puget Sound to Colorado south;", "Lands bathed in sweeter, rarer, healthier air—valleys and mountain cliffs;", "The fields of Nature long prepared and fallow—the silent, cyclic chemistry;", "The slow and steady ages plodding—the unoccupied surface ripening—the rich ores forming", " beneath;", "At last the New arriving, assuming, taking possession,", "A swarming and busy race settling and organizing every where;", "Ships coming in from the whole round world, and going out to the whole world,", "To India and China and Australia, and the thousand island paradises of the Pacific;", "Populous cities—the latest inventions—the steamers on the rivers—the railroads—with", " many a thrifty farm, with machinery,", "And wool, and wheat, and the grape—and diggings of yellow gold.", "", "6", "But more in you than these, Lands of the Western Shore!", "(These but the means, the implements, the standing-ground,)", "I see in you, certain to come, the promise of thousands of years, till now deferr’d,", "Promis’d, to be fulfill’d, our common kind, the Race.", "", "The New Society at last, proportionate to Nature,", "In Man of you, more than your mountain peaks, or stalwart trees imperial,", "In Woman more, far more, than all your gold, or vines, or even vital air.", "", "Fresh come, to a New World indeed, yet long prepared,", "I see the Genius of the Modern, child of the Real and Ideal,", "Clearing the ground for broad humanity, the true America, heir of the past so grand,", "To build a grander future." ], "linecount": "126" }, { "title": "Winter Song", "author": "Wilfred Owen", "lines": [ "The browns, the olives, and the yellows died,", "And were swept up to heaven; where they glowed", "Each dawn and set of sun till Christmastide,", "And when the land lay pale for them, pale-snowed,", "Fell back, and down the snow-drifts flamed and flowed.", "", "From off your face, into the winds of winter,", "The sun-brown and the summer-gold are blowing;", "But they shall gleam with spiritual glinter,", "When paler beauty on your brows falls snowing,", "And through those snows my looks shall be soft-going." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "A Song of Pitcairn's Island", "author": "William Cullen Bryant", "lines": [ "Come, take our boy, and we will go", "Before our cabin door;", "The winds shall bring us, as they blow,", "The murmurs of the shore;", "And we will kiss his young blue eyes,", "And I will sing him, as he lies,", "Songs that were made of yore:", "I'll sing, in his delighted ear,", "The island lays thou lov'st to hear.", "", "And thou, while stammering I repeat,", "Thy country's tongue shalt teach;", "'Tis not so soft, but far more sweet,", "Than my own native speech:", "For thou no other tongue didst know,", "When, scarcely twenty moons ago,", "Upon Tahete's beach,", "Thou cam'st to woo me to be thine,", "With many a speaking look and sign.", "", "I knew thy meaning--thou didst praise", "My eyes, my locks of jet;", "Ah! well for me they won thy gaze,--", "But thine were fairer yet!", "", "I'm glad to see my infant wear", "Thy soft blue eyes and sunny hair,", "And when my sight is met", "By his white brow and blooming cheek,", "I feel a joy I cannot speak.", "", "Come talk of Europe's maids with me,", "Whose necks and cheeks, they tell,", "Outshine the beauty of the sea,", "White foam and crimson shell.", "I'll shape like theirs my simple dress,", "And bind like them each jetty tress.", "A sight to please thee well:", "And for my dusky brow will braid", "A bonnet like an English maid.", "", "Come, for the soft low sunlight calls,", "We lose the pleasant hours;", "'Tis lovelier than these cottage walls,--", "That seat among the flowers.", "And I will learn of thee a prayer,", "To Him, who gave a home so fair,", "A lot so blessed as ours--", "The God who made, for thee and me,", "This sweet lone isle amid the sea." ], "linecount": "45" }, { "title": "Song VI: Cherish Life that Abideth", "author": "William Morris", "lines": [ "Love is enough: cherish life that abideth,", "Lest ye die ere ye know him, and curse and misname him;", "For who knows in what ruin of all hope he hideth,", "On what wings of the terror of darkness he rideth?", "And what is the joy of man's life that ye blame him", "For his bliss grown a sword, and his rest grown a fire?", "", "Ye who tremble for death, or the death of desire,", "Pass about the cold winter-tide garden and ponder", "On the rose in his glory amidst of June's fire,", "On the languor of noontide that gathered the thunder,", "On the morn and its freshness, the eve and its wonder:", "Ye may make it no more--shall Spring come to awaken?", "", "Live on, for Love liveth, and earth shall be shaken", "By the wind of his wings on the triumphing morning,", "When the dead, and their deeds that die not shall awaken,", "And the world's tale shall sound in your trumpet of warning,", "And the sun smite the banner called Scorn of the Scorning,", "And dead pain ye shall trample, dead fruitless desire,", "As ye wend to pluck out the new world from the fire." ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "Song II: Have No Thought for Tomorrow", "author": "William Morris", "lines": [ "Love is enough: have no thought for to-morrow", "If ye lie down this even in rest from your pain,", "Ye who have paid for your bliss with great sorrow:", "For as it was once so it shall be again.", "Ye shall cry out for death as ye stretch forth in vain", "", "Feeble hands to the hands that would help but they may not,", "Cry out to deaf ears that would hear if they could;", "Till again shall the change come, and words your lips say not", "Your hearts make all plain in the best wise they would", "And the world ye thought waning is glorious and good:", "", "And no morning now mocks you and no nightfall is weary,", "The plains are not empty of song and of deed:", "The sea strayeth not, nor the mountains are dreary;", "The wind is not helpless for any man's need,", "Nor falleth the rain but for thistle and weed.", "", "O surely this morning all sorrow is hidden,", "All battle is hushed for this even at least;", "And no one this noontide may hunger, unbidden", "To the flowers and the singing and the joy of your feast", "Where silent ye sit midst the world's tale increased.", "", "Lo, the lovers unloved that draw nigh for your blessing!", "For your tale makes the dreaming whereby yet they live", "The dreams of the day with their hopes of redressing,", "The dreams of the night with the kisses they give,", "The dreams of the dawn wherein death and hope strive.", "", "Ah, what shall we say then, but that earth threatened often", "Shall live on for ever that such things may be,", "That the dry seed shall quicken, the hard earth shall soften,", "And the spring-bearing birds flutter north o'er the sea,", "That earth's garden may bloom round my love's feet and me?" ], "linecount": "30" }, { "title": "Song's Eternity", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "What is song's eternity?", " Come and see.", "Can it noise and bustle be?", " Come and see.", "Praises sung or praises said", " Can it be?", "Wait awhile and these are dead--", " Sigh, sigh;", "Be they high or lowly bred They die.", "", "What is song's eternity?", " Come and see.", "Melodies of earth and sky,", " Here they be.", "Song once sung to Adam's ears", " Can it be?", "Ballads of six thousand years", " Thrive, thrive;", "Songs awaken with the spheres", " Alive.", "", "Mighty songs that miss decay,", " What are they?", "Crowds and cities pass away", " Like a day.", "Books are out and books are read;", " What are they?", "Years will lay them with the dead--", " Sigh, sigh;", "Trifles unto nothing wed,", " They die.", "", "Dreamers, mark the honey bee;", " Mark the tree", "Where the blue cap \"_tootle tee_\"", " Sings a glee", "Sung to Adam and to Eve", " Here they be.", "When floods covered every bough,", " Noah's ark", "Heard that ballad singing now;", " Hark, hark,", "", "\"_Tootle tootle tootle tee_\"--", " Can it be", "Pride and fame must shadows be?", " Come and see--", "Every season own her own;", " Bird and bee", "Sing creation's music on;", " Nature's glee", "Is in every mood and tone", " Eternity." ], "linecount": "49" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "I peeled bits of straws and I got switches too", "From the grey peeling willow as idlers do,", "And I switched at the flies as I sat all alone", "Till my flesh, blood, and marrow was turned to dry bone.", "My illness was love, though I knew not the smart,", "But the beauty of love was the blood of my heart.", "Crowded places, I shunned them as noises too rude", "And fled to the silence of sweet solitude.", "Where the flower in green darkness buds, blossoms, and fades,", "Unseen of all shepherds and flower-loving maids--", "The hermit bees find them but once and away.", "There I'll bury alive and in silence decay.", "", "I looked on the eyes of fair woman too long,", "Till silence and shame stole the use of my tongue:", "When I tried to speak to her I'd nothing to say,", "So I turned myself round and she wandered away.", "When she got too far off, why, I'd something to tell,", "So I sent sighs behind her and walked to my cell.", "Willow switches I broke and peeled bits of straws,", "Ever lonely in crowds, in Nature's own laws--", "My ball room the pasture, my music the bees,", "My drink was the fountain, my church the tall trees.", "Who ever would love or be tied to a wife", "When it makes a man mad all the days of his life?" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "I wish I was where I would be,", " With love alone to dwell,", "Was I but her or she but me,", " Then love would all be well.", "I wish to send my thoughts to her", " As quick as thoughts can fly,", "But as the winds the waters stir", " The mirrors change and fly." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "I would not feign a single sigh", " Nor weep a single tear for thee:", "The soul within these orbs burns dry;", " A desert spreads where love should be.", "I would not be a worm to crawl", " A writhing suppliant in thy way;", "For love is life, is heaven, and all", " The beams of an immortal day.", "", "For sighs are idle things and vain,", " And tears for idiots vainly fall.", "I would not kiss thy face again", " Nor round thy shining slippers crawl.", "Love is the honey, not the bee,", " Nor would I turn its sweets to gall", "For all the beauty found in thee,", " Thy lily neck, rose cheek, and all.", "", "I would not feign a single tale", " Thy kindness or thy love to seek;", "Nor sigh for Jenny of the Vale,", " Her ruby smile or rosy cheek.", "I would not have a pain to own", " For those dark curls and those bright eyes", "A frowning lip, a heart of stone,", " False love and folly I despise." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Breeze of the night in gentler sighs", " More softly murmur o'er the pillow;", "For Slumber seals my Fanny's eyes,", " And Peace must never shun her pillow.", "", "Or breathe those sweet Æolian strains", " Stolen from celestial spheres above,", "To charm her ear while some remains,", " And soothe her soul to dreams of love.", "", "But Breeze of night again forbear,", " In softest murmurs only sigh:", "Let not a Zephyr's pinion dare", " To lift those auburn locks on high.", "", "Chill is thy Breath, thou breeze of night!", " Oh! ruffle not those lids of Snow;", "For only Morning's cheering light", " May wake the beam that lurks below.", "", "Blest be that lip and azure eye!", " Sweet Fanny, hallowed be thy Sleep!", "Those lips shall never vent a sigh,", " Those eyes may never wake to weep." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Song of Saul Before His Last Battle", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "Warriors and chiefs! should the shaft or the sword", "Pierce me in leading the host of the Lord,", "Heed not the corse, though a King's, in your path:", "Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath!", "", "Thou who art bearing my buckler and bow,", "Should the soldiers of Saul look away from the foe,", "Stretch me that moment in blood at thy feet!", "Mine be the doom which they dared not to meet.", "", "Farewell to others, but never we part,", "Heir to my Royalty--Son of my heart!", "Bright is the diadem, boundless the sway,", "Or kingly the death, which awaits us to-day!" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "A Bridal Song", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The golden gates of Sleep unbar", "Where Strength and Beauty, met together,", "Kindle their image like a star", "In a sea of glassy weather!", "Night, with all thy stars look down,--", "Darkness, weep thy holiest dew,--", "Never smiled the inconstant moon", "On a pair so true.", "Let eyes not see their own delight;--", "Haste, swift Hour, and thy flight", "Oft renew.", "", "Fairies, sprites, and angels, keep her!", "Holy stars, permit no wrong!", "And return to wake the sleeper,", "Dawn,--ere it be long!", "O joy! O fear! what will be done", "In the absence of the sun!", "Come along!" ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Cold, cold is the blast when December is howling,", "Cold are the damps on a dying man's brow,--", "Stern are the seas when the wild waves are rolling,", "And sad is the grave where a loved one lies low;", "But colder is scorn from the being who loved thee,", "More stern is the sneer from the friend who has proved thee,", "More sad are the tears when their sorrows have moved thee,", "Which mixed with groans anguish and wild madness flow--", "", "And ah! poor -- has felt all this horror,", "Full long the fallen victim contended with fate:", "'Till a destitute outcast abandoned to sorrow,", "She sought her babe's food at her ruiner's gate--", "Another had charmed the remorseless betrayer,", "He turned laughing aside from her moans and her prayer,", "She said nothing, but wringing the wet from her hair,", "Crossed the dark mountain side, though the hour it was late.", "'Twas on the wild height of the dark Penmanmawr,", "That the form of the wasted -- reclined;", "She shrieked to the ravens that croaked from afar,", "And she sighed to the gusts of the wild sweeping wind.--", "I call not yon rocks where the thunder peals rattle,", "I call not yon clouds where the elements battle,", "But thee, cruel -- I call thee unkind!'--", "", "Then she wreathed in her hair the wild flowers of the mountain,", "And deliriously laughing, a garland entwined,", "She bedewed it with tears, then she hung o'er the fountain,", "And leaving it, cast it a prey to the wind.", "'Ah! go,' she exclaimed, 'when the tempest is yelling,", "'Tis unkind to be cast on the sea that is swelling,", "But I left, a pitiless outcast, my dwelling,", "My garments are torn, so they say is my mind--'", "", "Not long lived --, but over her grave", "Waved the desolate form of a storm-blasted yew,", "Around it no demons or ghosts dare to rave,", "But spirits of peace steep her slumbers in dew.", "Then stay thy swift steps mid the dark mountain heather,", "Though chill blow the wind and severe is the weather,", "For perfidy, traveller! cannot bereave her,", "Of the tears, to the tombs of the innocent due.--" ], "linecount": "39" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Fierce roars the midnight storm", "O'er the wild mountain,", "Dark clouds the night deform,", "Swift rolls the fountain--", "", "See! o'er yon rocky height,", "Dim mists are flying--", "See by the moon's pale light,", "Poor Laura's dying!", "", "Shame and remorse shall howl,", "By her false pillow--", "Fiercer than storms that roll,", "O'er the white billow;", "", "No hand her eyes to close,", "When life is flying,", "But she will find repose,", "For Laura's dying!", "", "Then will I seek my love,", "Then will I cheer her,", "Then my esteem will prove,", "When no friend is near her.", "", "On her grave I will lie,", "When life is parted,", "On her grave I will die,", "For the false hearted." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "An Old Song", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "THE sun set, the wind fell, the sea", "Was like a mirror shaking:", "The one small wave that clapped the land", "A mile-long snake of foam was making", "Where tide had smoothed and wind had dried", "The vacant sand.", "", "A light divided the swollen clouds", "And lay most perfectly", "Like a straight narrow footbridge bright", "That crossed over the sea to me;", "And no one else in the whole world", "Saw that same sight.", "", "I walked elate, my bridge always", "Just one step from my feet:", "A robin sang, a shade in shade:", "And all I did was to repeat:", "\"I'll go no more a-roving", "With you, fair maid.\"", "", "The sailors' song of merry loving", "With dusk and sea-gull's mewing", "Mixed sweet, the lewdness far outweighed", "By the wild charm the chorus played:", "\"I'll go no more a-roving", "With you, fair maid:", "A-roving, a-roving, since roving's been my ruin,", "I'll go no more a-roving with you, fair maid.\"", "", "_In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid--", "Mark well what I do say--", "In Amsterdam there dwelt a maid", "And she was a mistress of her trade:", "I'll go no more a-roving", "With you, fair maid:", "A-roving, a-roving, since roving's been my ruin,", "I'll go no more a-roving with you, fair maid._" ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "An Old Song", "author": "Edward Thomas", "lines": [ "I WAS not apprenticed nor ever dwelt in famous", " Lincolnshire;", "I've served one master ill and well much more than", " seven year;", "And never took up to poaching as you shall quickly", " find;", " But 'tis my delight of a shiny night in the season", " of the year.", "", "I roamed where nobody had a right but keepers and", " squires, and there", "I sought for nests, wild flowers, oak sticks, and", " moles, both far and near.", "And had to run from farmers, and learnt the", " Lincolnshire song:", " \"Oh, 'tis my delight of a shiny night in the", " season of the year.\"", "", "I took those walks years after, talking with friend", " or dear,", "Or solitary musing; but when the moon shone clear", "I had no joy or sorrow that could not be expressed", "By \"'Tis my delight of a shiny night in the", " season of the year.\"", "", "Since then I've thrown away a chance to fight a", " gamekeeper;", "And I less often trespass, and what I see or hear", "Is mostly from the road or path by day: yet still", " I sing:", " \"Oh, 'tis my delight of a shiny night in the", " season of the year.\"", "", "For if I am contented, at home or anywhere,", "Or if I sigh for I know not what, or my heart", " beats with some fear,", "It is a strange kind of delight to sing or whistle just:", " \"Oh, 'tis my delight of a shiny night in the", " season of the year.\"", "", "And with this melody on my lips and no one by to", " care,", "Indoors, or out on shiny nights or dark in open air,", "I am for a moment made a man that sings out of", " his heart:", " \"Oh, 'tis my delight of a shiny night in the", " season of the year.\"" ], "linecount": "42" }, { "title": "Songs of Innocence: Introduction", "author": "William Blake", "lines": [ "Piping down the valleys wild,", " Piping songs of pleasant glee,", "On a cloud I saw a child,", " And he laughing said to me:", "", "\"Pipe a song about a Lamb!\"", " So I piped with merry cheer.", "\"Piper, pipe that song again;\"", " So I piped: he wept to hear.", "", "\"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;", " Sing thy songs of happy cheer!\"", "So I sang the same again,", " While he wept with joy to hear.", "", "\"Piper, sit thee down and write", " In a book, that all may read.\"", "So he vanish'd from my sight;", " And I pluck'd a hollow reed,", "", "And I made a rural pen,", " And I stain'd the water clear,", "And I wrote my happy songs", " Every child may joy to hear." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Laughing Song", "author": "William Blake", "lines": [ "When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,", "And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;", "When the air does laugh with our merry wit,", "And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;", "", "when the meadows laugh with lively green,", "And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,", "When Mary and Susan and Emily", "With their sweet round mouths sing \"Ha, ha he!\"", "", "When the painted birds laugh in the shade,", "Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:", "Come live, and be merry, and join with me,", "To sing the sweet chorus of \"Ha, ha, he!\"" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "A SONG", "author": "William Blake", "lines": [ "Sweet dreams, form a shade", "O'er my lovely infant's head!", "Sweet dreams of pleasant streams", "By happy, silent, moony beams!", "", "Sweet Sleep, with soft down", "Weave thy brows an infant crown", "Sweet Sleep, angel mild,", "Hover o'er my happy child!", "", "Sweet smiles, in the night", "Hover over my delight!", "Sweet smiles, mother's smile,", "All the livelong night beguile.", "", "Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,", "Chase not slumber from thine eyes!", "Sweet moan, sweeter smile,", "All the dovelike moans beguile.", "", "Sleep, sleep, happy child!", "All creation slept and smiled.", "Sleep, sleep, happy sleep,", "While o'er thee doth mother weep.", "", "Sweet babe, in thy face", "Holy image I can trace;", "Sweet babe, once like thee", "Thy Maker lay, and wept for me:", "", "Wept for me, for thee, for all,", "When He was an infant small.", "Thou His image ever see,", "Heavenly face that smiles on thee!", "", "Smiles on thee, on me, on all,", "Who became an infant small;", "Infant smiles are his own smiles;", "Heaven and earth to peace beguiles." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Nurse's Song", "author": "William Blake", "lines": [ "When the voices of children are heard on the green,", " And laughing is heard on the hill,", "My heart is at rest within my breast,", " And everything else is still.", "\"Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,", " And the dews of night arise;", "Come, come, leave off play, and let us away,", " Till the morning appears in the skies.\"", "", "\"No, no, let us play, for it is yet day,", " And we cannot go to sleep;", "Besides, in the sky the little birds fly,", " And the hills are all covered with sheep.\"", "\"Well, well, go and play till the light fades away,", " And then go home to bed.\"", "The little ones leaped, and shouted, and laughed,", " And all the hills echoed." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Songs of Experience: Introduction", "author": "William Blake", "lines": [ "Hear the voice of the Bard,", "Who present, past, and future, sees;", "Whose ears have heard", "The Holy Word", "That walked among the ancient tree;", "", "Calling the lapsed soul,", "And weeping in the evening dew;", "That might control", "The starry pole,", "And fallen, fallen light renew!", "", "\"O Earth, O Earth, return!", "Arise from out the dewy grass!", "Night is worn,", "And the morn", "Rises from the slumbrous mass.", "", "\"Turn away no more;", "Why wilt thou turn away?", "The starry floor,", "The watery shore,", "Are given thee till the break of day.\"" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Nurse's Song", "author": "William Blake", "lines": [ "When voices of children are heard on the green,", "And whisperings are in the dale,", "The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind,", "My face turns green and pale.", "", "Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,", "And the dews of night arise;", "Your spring and your day are wasted in play,", "And your winter and night in disguise." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "A Hate-Song", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "A hater he came and sat by a ditch,", "And he took an old cracked lute;", "And he sang a song which was more of a screech", "'Gainst a woman that was a brute." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Song to the Men of England", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Men of England, wherefore plough", "For the lords who lay ye low?", "Wherefore weave with toil and care", "The rich robes your tyrants wear?", "", "Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save,", "From the cradle to the grave,", "Those ungrateful drones who would", "Drain your sweat--nay, drink your blood?", "", "Wherefore, Bees of England, forge", "Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,", "That these stingless drones may spoil", "The forced produce of your toil?", "", "Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,", "Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?", "Or what is it ye buy so dear", "With your pain and with your fear?", "", "The seed ye sow, another reaps;", "The wealth ye find, another keeps;", "The robes ye weave, another wears;", "The arms ye forge; another bears.", "", "Sow seed,--but let no tyrant reap;", "Find wealth,--let no impostor heap;", "Weave robes,--let not the idle wear;", "Forge arms,--in your defence to bear.", "", "Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells;", "In halls ye deck another dwells.", "Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see", "The steel ye tempered glance on ye.", "", "With plough and spade, and hoe and loom,", "Trace your grave, and build your tomb,", "And weave your winding-sheet, till fair", "England be your sepulchre." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Variation of the Song of the Moon", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "(\"PROMETHEUS UNBOUND\", ACT 4.)", "", "As a violet's gentle eye", "Gazes on the azure sky", "Until its hue grows like what it beholds;", "As a gray and empty mist", "Lies like solid amethyst", "Over the western mountain it enfolds,", "When the sunset sleeps", "Upon its snow;", "As a strain of sweetest sound", "Wraps itself the wind around", "Until the voiceless wind be music too;", "As aught dark, vain, and dull,", "Basking in what is beautiful,", "Is full of light and love--" ], "linecount": "15" }, { "title": "Song of Proserpine While Gathering Flowers on the Plain of Enna", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth,", "Thou from whose immortal bosom", "Gods, and men, and beasts have birth,", "Leaf and blade, and bud and blossom,", "Breathe thine influence most divine", "On thine own child, Proserpine.", "", "If with mists of evening dew", "Thou dost nourish these young flowers", "Till they grow, in scent and hue,", "Fairest children of the Hours,", "Breathe thine influence most divine", "On thine own child, Proserpine." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Rarely, rarely, comest thou,", "Spirit of Delight!", "Wherefore hast thou left me now", "Many a day and night?", "Many a weary night and day", "'Tis since thou art fled away.", "", "How shall ever one like me", "Win thee back again?", "With the joyous and the free", "Thou wilt scoff at pain.", "Spirit false! thou hast forgot", "All but those who need thee not.", "", "As a lizard with the shade", "Of a trembling leaf,", "Thou with sorrow art dismayed;", "Even the sighs of grief", "Reproach thee, that thou art not near,", "And reproach thou wilt not hear.", "", "Let me set my mournful ditty", "To a merry measure;", "Thou wilt never come for pity,", "Thou wilt come for pleasure;", "Pity then will cut away", "Those cruel wings, and thou wilt stay.", "", "I love all that thou lovest,", "Spirit of Delight!", "The fresh Earth in new leaves dressed,", "And the starry night;", "Autumn evening, and the morn", "When the golden mists are born.", "", "I love snow, and all the forms", "Of the radiant frost;", "I love waves, and winds, and storms,", "Everything almost", "Which is Nature's, and may be", "Untainted by man's misery.", "", "I love tranquil solitude,", "And such society", "As is quiet, wise, and good", "Between thee and me", "What difference? but thou dost possess", "The things I seek, not love them less.", "", "I love Love--though he has wings,", "And like light can flee,", "But above all other things,", "Spirit, I love thee--", "Thou art love and life! Oh, come,", "Make once more my heart thy home." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Come ! sweet is the hour,", "Soft Zephyrs breathe gently around,", "The anemone's night-boding flower,", "Has sunk its pale head on the ground.", "", "'Tis thus the world's keenness hath torn,", "Some mild heart that expands to its blast,", "'Tis thus that the wretched forlorn,", "Sinks poor and neglected at last.--", "", "The world with its keenness and woe,", "Has no charms or attraction for me,", "Its unkindness with grief has laid low,", "The heart which is faithful to thee.", "The high trees that wave past the moon,", "As I walk in their umbrage with you,", "All declare I must part with you soon,", "All bid you a tender adieu!--", "", "Then ! dearest farewell,", "You and I love, may ne'er meet again;", "These woods and these meadows can tell", "How soft and how sweet was the strain.--" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Song. Translated From the Italian", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Oh! what is the gain of restless care,", "And what is ambitious treasure?", "And what are the joys that the modish share,", "In their sickly haunts of pleasure?", "", "My husband's repast with delight I spread,", "What though 'tis but rustic fare,", "May each guardian angel protect his shed,", "May contentment and quiet be there.", "", "And may I support my husband's years,", "May I soothe his dying pain,", "And then may I dry my fast falling tears,", "And meet him in Heaven again." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Song. Translated From the German", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "Ah! grasp the dire dagger and couch the fell spear,", "If vengeance and death to thy bosom be dear,", "The dastard shall perish, death's torment shall prove,", "For fate and revenge are decreed from above.", "", "Ah! where is the hero, whose nerves strung by youth,", "Will defend the firm cause of justice and truth;", "With insatiate desire whose bosom shall swell,", "To give up the oppressor to judgement and Hell--", "", "For him shall the fair one twine chaplets of bays,", "To him shall each warrior give merited praise,", "And triumphant returned from the clangour of arms,", "He shall find his reward in his loved maiden's charms.", "", "In ecstatic confusion the warrior shall sip,", "The kisses that glow on his love's dewy lip,", "And mutual, eternal, embraces shall prove,", "The rewards of the brave are the transports of love." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "The Irishman's Song", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "The stars may dissolve, and the fountain of light", "May sink into ne'er ending chaos and night,", "Our mansions must fall, and earth vanish away,", "But thy courage O Erin! may never decay.", "", "See! the wide wasting ruin extends all around,", "Our ancestors' dwellings lie sunk on the ground,", "Our foes ride in triumph throughout our domains,", "And our mightiest heroes lie stretched on the plains.", "", "Ah! dead is the harp which was wont to give pleasure,", "Ah! sunk is our sweet country's rapturous measure,", "But the war note is waked, and the clangour of spears,", "The dread yell of Sloghan yet sounds in our ears.", "", "Ah! where are the heroes! triumphant in death,", "Convulsed they recline on the blood sprinkled heath,", "Or the yelling ghosts ride on the blast that sweeps by,", "And 'my countrymen! vengeance!' incessantly cry." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Song", "author": "Edgar Allan Poe", "lines": [ "I saw thee on thy bridal day--", " When a burning blush came o'er thee,", "Though happiness around thee lay,", " The world all love before thee:", "", "And in thine eye a kindling light", " (Whatever it might be)", "Was all on Earth my aching sight", " Of Loveliness could see.", "", "That blush, perhaps, was maiden shame--", " As such it well may pass--", "Though its glow hath raised a fiercer flame", " In the breast of him, alas!", "", "Who saw thee on that bridal day,", " When that deep blush _would_ come o'er thee,", "Though happiness around thee lay,", " The world all love before thee." ], "linecount": "16" } ]