Underneath their eider-robe Russet swede and golden globe, Feathered carrot, burrowing deep, Steadfast wait in charmed sleep; Treasure-houses wherein lie, Locked by angels’ alchemy, Milk and hair, and blood, and bone, Children of the barren stone; Children of the flaming Air, With his blue eye keen and bare, Spirit-peopled smiling down On frozen field and […]

Jesus, He loves one and all, Jesus, He loves children small, Their souls are waiting round His feet On high, before His mercy-seat. While He wandered here below Children small to Him did go, At His feet they knelt and prayed, On their heads His hands He laid. Came a Spirit on them then, Better […]

Oh, forth she went like a braw, braw bride To meet her winsome groom, When she was aware of twa bonny birds Sat biggin’ in the broom. The tane it built with the green, green moss, But and the bents sae fine, And the tither wi’ a lock o’ lady’s hair Linked up wi’ siller […]

Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; Oh the pleasant sight to see Shires and towns from Airly Beacon, While my love climbed up to me! Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; Oh the happy hours we lay Deep in fern on Airly Beacon, Courting through the summer’s day! Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; Oh the weary haunt for me, All […]

She lay among the myrtles on the cliff; Above her glared the noon; beneath, the sea. Upon the white horizon Atho’s peak Weltered in burning haze; all airs were dead; The cicale slept among the tamarisk’s hair; The birds sat dumb and drooping. Far below The lazy sea-weed glistened in the sun; The lazy sea-fowl […]

The merry brown hares came leaping Over the crest of the hill, Where the clover and corn lay sleeping Under the moonlight still. Leaping late and early, Till under their bite and their tread The swedes and the wheat and the barley Lay cankered and trampled and dead. A poacher’s widow sat sighing On the […]

Oh she tripped over Ocknell plain, And down by Bradley Water; And the fairest maid on the forest side Was Jane, the keeper’s daughter. She went and went through the broad gray lawns As down the red sun sank, And chill as the scent of a new-made grave The mist smelt cold and dank. ‘A […]

A gay young knight in Burley stood, Beside him pawed his steed so good, His hands he wrung as he were wood With waiting for his love O! ‘Oh, will she come, or will she stay, Or will she waste the weary day With fools who wish her far away, And hate her for her […]

The King was drinking in Malwood Hall, There came in a monk before them all: He thrust by squire, he thrust by knight, Stood over against the dais aright; And, ‘The word of the Lord, thou cruel Red King, The word of the Lord to thee I bring. A grimly sweven I dreamt yestreen; I […]

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 […]

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 […]

A floating, a floating Across the sleeping sea, All night I heard a singing bird Upon the topmost tree. ‘Oh came you off the isles of Greece, Or off the banks of Seine; Or off some tree in forests free, Which fringe the western main?’ ‘I came not off the old world Nor yet from […]

Wild wild wind, wilt thou never cease thy sighing? Dark dark night, wilt thou never wear away? Cold cold church, in thy death sleep lying, The Lent is past, thy Passion here, but not thine Easter-day. Peace, faint heart, though the night be dark and sighing; Rest, fair corpse, where thy Lord himself hath lain. […]

The church bells were ringing, the devil sat singing On the stump of a rotting old tree; ‘Oh faith it grows cold, and the creeds they grow old, And the world is nigh ready for me.’ The bells went on ringing, a spirit came singing, And smiled as he crumbled the tree; ‘Yon wood does […]

Early in spring time, on raw and windy mornings, Beneath the freezing house-eaves I heard the starlings sing– ‘Ah dreary March month, is this then a time for building wearily? Sad, sad, to think that the year is but begun.’ Late in the autumn, on still and cloudless evenings, Among the golden reed-beds I heard […]

See how the autumn leaves float by decaying, Down the wild swirls of the rain-swollen stream. So fleet the works of men, back to their earth again; Ancient and holy things fade like a dream. Nay! see the spring-blossoms steal forth a-maying, Clothing with tender hues orchard and glen; So, though old forms pass by, […]

Who will say the world is dying? Who will say our prime is past? Sparks from Heaven, within us lying, Flash, and will flash till the last. Fools! who fancy Christ mistaken; Man a tool to buy and sell; Earth a failure, God-forsaken, Anteroom of Hell. Still the race of Hero-spirits Pass the lamp from […]

‘Watchman, what of the night?’ ‘The stars are out in the sky; And the merry round moon will be rising soon, For us to go sailing by.’ ‘Watchman, what of the night?’ ‘The tide flows in from the sea; There’s water to float a little cockboat Will carry such fishers as we.’ ‘Watchman, what of […]

‘O Mary, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, And call the cattle home Across the sands of Dee;’ The western wind was wild and dank with foam, And all alone went she. The western tide crept up along the sand, And o’er and o’er the sand, And round and round […]

How sleeps yon rock, whose half-day’s bath is done. With broad blight side beneath the broad bright sun, Like sea-nymph tired, on cushioned mosses sleeping. Yet, nearer drawn, beneath her purple tresses From drooping brows we find her slowly weeping. So many a wife for cruel man’s caresses Must inly pine and pine, yet outward […]