Go set the table, Mary, an' let the cloth be white! The hungry city children are comin' here to-night; The children from the city, with features pinched an' spare,...
Ho! brothers--come hither and list to my story-- Merry and brief will the narrative be. Here, like a monarch, I reign in my glory-- Master am I, boys, of all that I see!...
Canada hath wealthy yeomen Whose fathers overcome the foemen, The enemy they boldly slew Was mighty forests they did hew, And where they burned heaps of slain...
O Thou that walkest with nigh hopeless feet Past the one harbour, built for thee and thine. Doth no stray odour from its table greet, No truant beam from fire or candle shine? ...
In cheerful faith that fears no ill The good man doth the world begin; And dreams that all without shall still Reflect the trusting soul within. Warm with the noble vows of youth,...
Where, through the myriad leaves of forest trees, The daylight falls, beryl and chrysoprase, The glamour and the glimmer of its rays Seem visible music, tangible melodies:...
Like Crusoe, walking by the lonely strand And seeing a human footprint on the sand, Have I this day been startled, finding here, Set in brown mould and delicately clear,...
Pure as an angel's dream shone Paradise. Blue mountains hemmed it round; and airy sighs Of rippling waters haunted it. Dim glades, And wayward paths o'erflecked with shimmering shades,...
Soft stealing through the shade, and skirting swift The walls of Paradise, through night's dark rift Lilith fled far; nor stopped lest deadly snare Or peril by the wayside lurked. The air...
Wide through her realm she walked, and glad or lorn She mused. So, loitering, it chanced one morn When lone she sat upon a mountain height, One sudden stood anear, whose dark eyes bright...
To that fair Elf-child other summers came; But Lilith walked, heart-hungered, filled with shame, Naught comforted. And in that shadow-land She sorrowing bore, in after-time, a band...
And Lilith oft to Paradise returned, For fierce within her, bitter hatred burned, And better, dearer, seemed revenge than aught She else desired. The coppice oft she sought,...
Place thy lilly-white hand in mine, Maid with the wealth of golden hair; - Tresses, that gleaming like gold, entwine, Round about a sweet face so fair.
Adieu! dear girl! if we are doom'd to part, Take with thee, take, the blessing of this heart, Due to thy gentle mind, and cultur'd sense; Perhaps 'twill please, but, sure, can't give offence....
Farewell! endued with all that could engage All hearts to love thee, both in youth and age! In prime of life, for sprightliness enroll'd Among the gay, yet virtuous as the old;
My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring And carried aloft on the wings of the breeze; For above and around me the wild wind is roaring, Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas. ...