In the winter they're silent, the wind is so strong; What it says I don't know, but it sings a loud song. But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather, And singing and loving-all come back together. But the lark is so brimful of gladness and love, The green fields below him, the blue sky above, That he sings, and he sings, and forever sings he, 'I love my Love, and my Love loves me.' S. T. Coleridge V THE BROOK I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, To bicker down a valley. By thirty hills I hurry down, Or slip between the ridges, Till last by Philip's farm I flow I chatter over stony ways, With many a curve my bank I fret With willow-weed and mallow. I chatter, chatter, as I flow For men may come, and men may go, I wind about, and in and out, And here and there a foamy flake With many a silvery waterbreak And draw them all along and flow To join the brimming river, For men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever. I steal by lawns and grassy plots, I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, I murmur under moon and stars And out again I curve and flow For men may come, and men may go, A. Tennyson VI STARS They glide upon their endless way, Mark the Daughters of the Night: Shine on, sweet orbed Souls for aye, For ever calm, for ever bright: We ask not whither lies your way, Nor whence ye came, nor what your light. Be-still a dream throughout the day, A blessing through the night. B. Cornwall VII THE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE Come live with me and be my Love, There will we sit upon the rocks There will I make thee beds of roses A gown made of the finest wool, A belt of straw and ivy buds, Thy silver dishes for thy meat The shepherd swains shall dance and sing If these delights thy mind may move, C. Marlowe VIII THE KITTEN AND FALLING LEAVES See the Kitten on the wall, Withered leaves-one-two-and three From the lofty elder tree! Through the calm and frosty air -But the Kitten, now she starts, Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts ! |