Works

Far, far away is mirth withdrawn
'Tis three long hours before the morn
And I watch lonely, drearily
So come thou shade commune with me

Deserted one! thy corpse lies cold...

[From Farmer Harrington's Calendar.]

NOVEMBER 20, 18 - .

It's quite a show, and strikes me a good deal -
How many ride around here on a wheel;
The streets are graded very smooth and nice,...

"Why are those tears? Why droops your head?
Say is your swain or husband dead?"

The farmer's wife said: "You know well
The salt was spilt, - to me it fell;
And then to add loss unto loss,...

It's a mystery to see me - a man o' fifty-four,
Who's lived a cross old bachelor fer thirty year' and more -
A-lookin' glad and smilin'! And they's none o' you can say...

I.

Mine eye is weary of the plains
Of verdure vast and wide
That stretch around me - lovely, calm,
From morn till even-tide;
And I recall with aching heart
My childhood's village home;...

THE REAPERS.

So many reapers, Father John,
So many reapers and no little son,
To meet you when the day is done,
With little stiff legs to waddle and run?
Pray you beg, borrow, or steal one son....

Looking like Raphael's Perugino, eyes
So slightly, subtly aquiline, as brown
As a buck-eye, amorous, flamed, but lightly dimmed
Through thought of self while sitting for the artist;...

A NEW VERSION BY LEE O. HARRIS AND JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

"You are old, Father William, and though one would think
All the veins in your body were dry,
Yet the end of your nose is red as a pink;...

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head,
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"
...

"Yu ban old, Fader Olaf," a young geezer
say, "yure hair it ban whiter sum snow;
Ay lak yu to tal me how yu keep so young.
By Yudas! Ay ant hardly know."

"Ven ay ban a young kid," Fader Olaf he...

Fear not that, while around thee
Life's varied blessings pour,
One sigh of hers shall wound thee,
Whose smile thou seek'st no more.
No, dead and cold for ever
Let our past love remain;...

To pray as Jesus prayed,
When faithless brethren sleep, -
To weep the ruin sin has made -
The only ones that weep, -
To bear the heavy cross, -
To toil, yet murmur not, -...

A buffalo, lord of the plain,
With massive neck and mighty mane,
While from his herd he slowly strays,
He on green herbage calm doth graze,
And when at last he lifts his eyes...

Two youths employed at the fur fort
Resolved to have half day of sport,
From Jasper House, in the far north,
For game they joyous issued forth,
The factor of the Hudson Bay...

Untouched through all severity of cold;
Inviolate, whate'er the cottage hearth
Might need for comfort, or for festal mirth;
That Pile of Turf is half a century old:...

Fill a glass with golden wine,
And the while your lips are wet
Set their perfume unto mine,
And forget,
Every kiss we take and give
Leaves us less of life to live.
...

These are the tales those merry guests
Told to each other, well or ill;
Like summer birds that lift their crests
Above the borders of their nests
And twitter, and again are still.
...

Tune - "Whistle o'er the lave o't."


I.

First when Maggy was my care,
Heaven, I thought, was in her air;
Now we're married, spier nae mair,
Whistle o'er the lave o't....

Preposterous is that order, when we run
To ask our wages ere our work be done.

TO MY LOST BROTHER


Ships the angry sea is lashing;
But I launch my little bark,
Though the thunder peals are crashing,
And the sea is pitchy dark!
See by lightning's vivid flashing...