Volume Ii Part 112 (1/2)
My first love was a fair girl With ways forever new; And hair a sunlight yellow, And eyes a morning blue.
The roses, have they tarried Or are they dun and frayed?
If we had stayed together, Would love, indeed, have stayed?
Ah, years are filled with learning, And days are leaves of change!
And I have met so many I knew... and found them strange.
But on the sea-lands tumbled By winds that sting and blind, The nights we watched, so silent, Come back, come back to mind...
I mind about my first love, And hear the rush and roar Of spume below the doorstep And winds upon the door.
Orrick Johns [1887-
FAIR INES
O saw ye not fair Ines?
She's gone into the West, To dazzle when the sun is down, And rob the world of rest: She took our daylight with her, The smiles that we love best, With morning blushes on her cheek, And pearls upon her breast.
O turn again, fair Ines, Before the fall of night, For fear the Moon should s.h.i.+ne alone, And stars unrivaled bright; And blessed will the lover be That walks beneath their light, And breathes the love against thy cheek I dare not even write!
Would I had been, fair Ines, That gallant cavalier, Who rode so gaily by thy side, And whispered thee so near!
Were there no bonny dames at home, Or no true lovers here, That he should cross the seas to win The dearest of the dear?
I saw thee, lovely Ines, Descend along the sh.o.r.e, With bands of n.o.ble gentlemen, And banners waved before; And gentle youth and maidens gay, And snowy plumes they wore: It would have been a beauteous dream,-- If it had been no more!
Alas, alas! fair Ines, She went away with song, With Music waiting on her steps, And shoutings of the throng; But some were sad, and felt no mirth, But only Music's wrong, In sounds that sang Farewell, farewell, To her you've loved so long.
Farewell, farewell, fair Ines!
That vessel never bore So fair a lady on its deck, Nor danced so light before,-- Alas for pleasure on the sea, And sorrow on the sh.o.r.e!
The smile that blessed one lover's heart Has broken many more!
Thomas Hood [1799-1845]
A VALEDICTION
G.o.d be with thee, my beloved,--G.o.d be with thee!
Else alone thou goest forth, Thy face unto the north, Moor and pleasance all around thee and beneath thee Looking equal in one snow; While I, who try to reach thee, Vainly follow, vainly follow With the farewell and the hollo, And cannot reach thee so.
Alas, I can but teach thee!
G.o.d be with thee, my beloved,--G.o.d be with thee!
Can I teach thee, my beloved,--can I teach thee?
If I said, ”Go left or right,”
The counsel would be light, The wisdom, poor of all that could enrich thee; My right would show like left; My raising would depress thee, My choice of light would blind thee, Of way--would leave behind thee, Of end--would leave bereft.
Alas, I can but bless thee!