5 And you, warm little housekeeper, who class With those who think the candles come too soon, Loving the fire, and with your tricksome tune Nick the glad silent moments as they pass; Oh sweet and tiny cousins, that belong, 10 One to the fields, the other to the hearth, Both have your sunshine; both, though small, are strong At your clear hearts; and both seem giv'n to earth To sing in thoughtful ears this natural song— In doors and out, summer and winter, Mirth. Walter Savage Landor 1775-1864 MILD IS THE PARTING YEAR, AND SWEET (Collected Works, 1846) Mild is the parting year, and sweet 5 I wait its close, I court its gloom, But mourn that never must there fall The tear that would have sooth'd it all. AH WHAT AVAILS THE SCEPTERED RACE Ah what avails the sceptered race, Rose Aylmer, all were thine, 5 Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyes A night of memories and of sighs YES; I WRITE VERSES (From the same) Yes; 5 In the last quarter are my eyes, Or now or never. Fairest that ever sprang from Eve! 10 While Time allows the short reprieve, Just look at me! would you believe 'Twas once a lover? I cannot clear the five-bar gate But, trying first its timber's state, 15 Climb stiffly up, take breath, and wait 20 To trundle over. Thro' gallopade I cannot swing The entangling blooms of Beauty's spring: Be't true or false, And am beginning to opine Those girls are only half-divine Whose waists yon wicked boys entwine In giddy waltz. 25 I fear that arm above that shoulder, I wish them wiser, graver, older, Sedater, and no harm if colder And panting less. Ah! people were not half so wild 30 In former days, when starchly mild, Upon her high-heel'd Essex smiled The Brave Queen Bess. TO ROBERT BROWNING (From the same) There is delight in singing, tho' none hear 10 So varied in discourse. But warmer climes The Siren waits thee, singing song for song. INTRODUCTION TO THE LAST FRUIT OFF AN OLD TREE (1853) I strove with none, for none was worth my strife. I warmed both hands before the fire of Life; Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) 1787-1874 A PETITION TO TIME (From Poems, 1850) Touch us gently, Time! Let us glide adown thy stream Through a quiet dream! 5 Humble voyagers are We, 10 Husband, wife, and children three(One is lost, an angel, fled To the azure overhead!) Touch us gently, Time! We've not proud nor soaring wings: Lies in simple things. O'er Life's dim unsounded sea, 15 Seeking only some calm clime:Touch us gently, gentle Time! bartley Coleridge 1796-1849 SONG (1851) She is not fair to outward view Until she smiled on me; 5 Oh! then I saw her eye was bright, A well of love, a spring of light. 10 But now her looks are coy and cold, The love-light in her eye: Her very frowns are fairer far, Than smiles of other maidens are, Charles Lamb 1775-1834 TO HESTER (1805) When maidens such as Hester die, 5 A month or more hath she been dead, A springy motion in her gait, 10 A rising step, did indicate Of pride and joy no common rate, I know not by what name beside 20 Her parents held the Quaker rule, A waking eye, a prying mind, |