The clouds are round us, and the snow-drifts thicken, Anon. CXXXV. TO A SKY-LARK. THEREAL minstrel ! pilgrim of the sky! Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound? Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground? Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will, Those quivering wings composed, that music still! Leave to the nightingale her shady wood; Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood Type of the wise who soar, but never roam; True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home! W. Wordsworth. CXXXVI. IT'S HAME, AND IT'S HAME. T'S hame, and it's hame, hame fain wad I be, An' it's hame, hame, hame, to my ain countree ! the tree, The lark shall sing me hame in my ain countree; The green leaf o' loyaltie 's beginning for to fa', It's hame, and it's hame, hame fain wad I be, There's naught now frae ruin my country can save, The great now are gane, a' who ventured to save, A. Cunningham. CXXXVII. 'BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN.' H, deem not they are blest alone Whose lives a peaceful tenor keep; The Power who pities man, has shown A blessing for the eyes that weep. The light of smiles shall fill again The lids that overflow with tears; Are promises of happier years. There is a day of sunny rest For every dark and troubled night; And grief may bide an evening guest, But joy shall come with early light. And thou, who, o'er thy friend's low bier, Nor let the good man's trust depart, For God has marked each sorrowing day And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay W. C. Bryant. CXXXVIII. T fortifies my soul to know A. H. Clough. CXXXIX. L'ALLEGRO.1 ENCE, loathéd Melancholy, Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born In Stygian cave forlorn, 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy! Find out some uncouth cell Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings, And the night-raven sings; There under ebon shades and low-browed rocks, As ragged as thy locks, In dark Cimmerian2 desert ever dwell. But come, thou goddess fair and free, And by men, heart-easing Mirth; Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles, Nods, and Becks, and wreathéd Smiles, And in thy right hand lead with thee The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty; 1 L'Allegro. The Cheerful Man. 2 Cimmerian, 'the Cimmerii, in Homer, a people of the west, dwelling in a country of cloud and gloom.' 3 Euphrosyne. Cheerfulness, one of the Graces. • Quips, repartees. 5 Cranks, cross-purposes, Hebe, the goddess of youth. And, if I give thee honour due, To live with her, and live with thee While the cock, with lively din, And every shepherd tells his tale3 Under the hawthorn in the dale. Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, Whilst the landscape round it measures: Unreproved, for unreprovable, innocent. 2 Twisted eglantine, the honeysuckle. Tells his tale, counts his flock. |