Part 5 (2/2)

In the New Forest, 1847.

SING HEIGH-HO!

There sits a bird on every tree; Sing heigh-ho!

There sits a bird on every tree, And courts his love as I do thee; Sing heigh-ho, and heigh-ho!

Young maids must marry.

There grows a flower on every bough; Sing heigh-ho!

There grows a flower on every bough, Its petals kiss--I'll show you how: Sing heigh-ho, and heigh-ho!

Young maids must marry.

From sea to stream the salmon roam; Sing heigh-ho!

From sea to stream the salmon roam; Each finds a mate, and leads her home; Sing heigh-ho, and heigh-ho!

Young maids must marry.

The sun's a bridegroom, earth a bride; Sing heigh-ho!

They court from morn till eventide: The earth shall pa.s.s, but love abide.

Sing heigh-ho, and heigh-ho!

Young maids must marry.

Eversley, 1847.

A MARCH

Dreary East winds howling o'er us; Clay-lands knee-deep spread before us; Mire and ice and snow and sleet; Aching backs and frozen feet; Knees which reel as marches quicken, Ranks which thin as corpses thicken; While with carrion birds we eat, Calling puddle-water sweet, As we pledge the health of our general, who fares as rough as we: What can daunt us, what can turn us, led to death by such as he?

Eversley, 1848.

A LAMENT

The merry merry lark was up and singing, And the hare was out and feeding on the lea; And the merry merry bells below were ringing, When my child's laugh rang through me.

Now the hare is snared and dead beside the snow-yard, And the lark beside the dreary winter sea; And the baby in his cradle in the churchyard Sleeps sound till the bell brings me.

Eversley, 1848.

THE NIGHT BIRD: A MYTH

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