Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

210

Jo

JOHN ANDERSON

OHN Anderson my jo, John,
when we were first acquent
your locks were like the raven,
your bonnie brow was brent;
but now your brow is bald, John,
your locks are like the snow;
but blessings on your frosty pow,
John Anderson my jo.

John Anderson my jo, John,
we clamb the hill thegither,
and monie a cantie day, John,
we've had wi' ane anither;
now we maun totter down, John,
but hand in hand we'll go,
and sleep thegither at the foot,
John Anderson my jo.

211

THE

TO THE DAISY

HEE Winter in the garland wears
that thinly decks his few grey hairs;
Spring parts the clouds with softest airs,
that she may sun thee;

whole Summer-fields are thine by right;
and Autumn, melancholy Wight!
doth in thy crimson head delight
when rains are on thee.

Be violets in their secret mews

the flowers the wanton Zephyrs choose;
proud be the rose, with rains and dews
her head impearling;

thou liv'st with less ambitious aim,
yet hast not gone without thy fame;
thou art indeed by many a claim
the Poet's darling.

212 If to a rock from rains he fly,
or, some bright day of April sky,
imprisoned by hot sunshine lie

near the green holly,

R. BURNS

and wearily at length should fare;
he needs but look about, and there
thou art!-a friend at hand, to scare
his melancholy.

Child of the year! that round dost run
thy pleasant course,-when day's begun
as ready to salute the sun

as lark or leveret,

thy long-lost praise thou shalt regain;
nor be less dear to future men
than in old time;-thou not in vain
art Nature's favourite.

W. WORDSWORTH

213

YOU

PROOF TO NO PURPOSE

OU see this gentle stream that glides,
shov'd on by quick succeeding tides:

try if this sober stream you can

follow to the wilder ocean:

and see, if there it keeps unspent

in that congesting element:

next, from that world of waters, then

by pores and caverns back again

induc'd that inadulterate same

stream to the spring from whence it came:
this with a wonder when ye do,

as easy, and else easier too,
then may ye recollect the grains
of my particular remains;
after a thousand lustres hurl'd,
by ruffling winds, about the world.

214

R. HERRICK

TO THE CORAL INSECT

OIL on! toil on! ye ephemeral train,

TOIL

who build in the tossing and treacherous main;

toil on, for the wisdom of man ye mock,

with your sand-based structures and domes of rock;

your columns the fathomless fountains lave,

and your arches spring up through the crested wave; you're a puny race, thus to boldly rear

a fabric so vast in a realm so drear.

215

216

But why do ye plant 'neath the billows dark
the wrecking reef for the gallant bark?

there are snares enough on the tented field;
'mid the blossomed sweets that the valleys yield;
there are serpents to coil ere the flowers are up;
there's a poison-drop in man's purest cup;
there are foes that watch for his cradle breath,
and why need ye sow the floods with death?

AN EPITAPH

L. H. SIGOURNEY

HIS little vault, this narrow room,

TH

of love and beauty is the tomb:
the dawning beam, that 'gan to clear
our clouded sky, lies darkened here;
for ever set to us by death,

sent to enflame the world beneath.
'Twas but a bud, yet did contain
more sweetness than shall spring again,
a budding star that might have grown
into a sun, when it had blown.
This hopeful beauty did create
new life in love's declining state;
but now his empire ends, and we
from fire and wounding darts are free;
his brand, his bow, let no man fear;
the flames, the arrows all lie here.

GIV

EXTREME OF LOVE OR HATE
IVE me more love or more disdain;
the torrid or the frozen zone
bring equal ease unto my pain,
the temperate affords me none;
either extreme of love or hate
is sweeter than a calm estate.
Give me a storm;-if it be love,
like Danäe in that golden shower,
I swim in pleasure; if it prove

disdain-that torrent will devour
my vulture hopes, and he's possessed
of heaven, that's but from hell released;
then crown my joys or cure my pain;
give me more love or more disdain.

T. CAREW

T. CAREW

217

218

MAR

THE WATERFALL

ARK how, a thousand streams in one,
one in a thousand, on they fare,
now flashing to the sun,

now still as beast in lair.

How round the rock, now mounting o'er,
in lawless dance they win their way,
still seeming more and more

to swell as we survey.

They win their way, and find their rest
together in their ocean home,

from East and weary West,

from North and South they come.

They rush and roar, they whirl and leap,
not wilder drives the wintry storm:
yet a strong law they keep,

strange powers their course inform.

J. KEBLE

YOUNG LOVE

OME, little infant, love me now,
while thine unsuspected years

clear thine aged father's brow
from cold jealousy and fears.

Pretty surely 'twere to see

by young Love old Time beguiled, while our sportings are as free

as the nurse's with the child

Now then love me: time may take
thee before thy time away;
of this need we'll virtue make,
and learn love before we may.

So we win of doubtful fate,
and, if good to us she meant,
we that good shall antedate,
or, if ill, that ill prevent.

A. MARVELL

219

THE MEANS TO ATTAIN HAPPY LIFE

MA

ARTIAL, the things that do attain
the happy life, be these I find:
the riches left, not got with pain;
the fruitful ground, the quiet mind:

the equal friend, no grudge, no strife;
no charge of rule, nor governance;
without disease, the healthful life;
the household of continuance:

the mean diet, no delicate fare;
true wisdom joined with simpleness;
the night discharged of all care;
where wine the wit may not oppress:

the faithful wife, without debate;
such sleeps as may beguile the night;
contented with thine own estate,
ne wish for death, ne fear his might.

EARL OF SURREY

220

GLO

THE RETURN OF SPRING

LOOMY winter's now awa',
soft the westlin' breezes blaw:
'mang the birks o' Stanley-shaw
the mavis sings fu' cheerie O.
towering o'er the Newton woods,
laverocks fan the snaw-white clouds;
siller saughs, wi' downie buds,
adorn the banks sae brierie O.

Round the sylvan fairy nooks,
feathery breckans fringe the rocks,
'neath the brae the burnie jouks,

and ilka thing is cheerie O.
Trees may bud, and birds may sing,
flowers may bloom, and verdure spring,
joy to me they canna bring,

unless wi’' thee, my dearie O.

R. TANNAHILL

« AnteriorContinuar »