Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

And then, for fear of further strife,
He took Sweet William for his wife :
The like before was never seen,

A serving-man to be a queen.

Old Ballad

CXL

PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED

It chanced upon a winter's day,
But warm, and bright, and calm as May,
The birds, conceiving a design

To forestall sweet St. Valentine,

In many an orchard, copse, and grove,
Assembled on affairs of love,

And with much twitter and much chatter,
Began to agitate the matter.

At length a Bullfinch, who could boast
More years and wisdom than the most,
Entreated, opening wide his beak,
A moment's liberty to speak;
And, silence publicly enjoin'd,
Deliver'd briefly thus his mind :
'My friends! be cautious how ye treat
The subject upon which we meet ;
I fear we shall have winter yet.'

A finch, whose tongue knew no control,

With golden wing and satin poll, A last year's bird, who ne'er had tried What pairing means, thus pert replied : 'Methinks the gentleman,' quoth she, 'Opposite, in the apple-tree,

By his good will would keep us single

Till yonder heaven and earth shall mingle,
Or (which is likelier to befall)

Till death exterminate us all.

I couple without more ado ;

My dear Dick Redcap, what say you?'

Dick heard, and tweedling, ogling, bridling, Turning short round, strutting, and sidling, Attested glad his approbation

Of an immediate conjugation.
Their sentiments so well express'd
Influenced mightily the rest;

All pair'd, and each pair built a nest.

But though the birds were thus in haste,
The leaves came on not quite so fast,
And Destiny, that sometimes bears
An aspect stern on man's affairs,
Not altogether smiled on theirs.
The wind, of late breath'd gently forth,
Now shifted east, and east by north;
Bare trees and shrubs but ill, you know,
Could shelter them from rain and snow,
Stepping into their nests, they paddled,
Themselves were chill'd, their eggs were addled.
Soon every father bird and mother

Grew quarrelsome, and peck'd each other.
Parted without the least regret,

Except that they had ever met,

And learn'd in future to be wiser
Than to neglect a good adviser.

W. Cowper

CXLI

TO A WATER FOWL

Whither, 'midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler's eye

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.

Seek'st thou the plashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean side?

There is a Power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,
The desert and illimitable air,—

Lone wandering but not lost.

All day thy wings have fann'd,
At that far height the cold thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil'shall end;

Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend

Soon o'er thy shelter'd nest.

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven

Hath swallow'd up thy form: yet on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.

He, who from zone to zone

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright.

CXLII

W. C. Bryant

ROBIN HOOD AND THE BISHOP OF HEREFORD

Some will talk of bold Robin Hood,

And some of barons bold;

But I'll tell you how he served the bishop of Hereford, When he robbed him of his gold.

As it befel in merry Barnsdale,

All under the greenwood tree,

The bishop of Hereford was to come by,

With all his company.

'Come kill me a ven'son,' said bold Robin Hood,
'Come kill me a good fat deer;

The bishop of Hereford is to dine with me to-day,
And he shall pay well for his cheer.

'We'll kill a fat ven'son,' said bold Robin Hood,
'And dress it by the highway side;

And we will watch the bishop narrowly,
Lest some other way he should ride.'

Robin Hood dressed himself in shepherd's attire,

With six of his men alsó ;

And, when the bishop of Hereford came by,
They about the fire did go.

'O what is the matter?' then said the bishop, ‘Or for whom do you make this ado? Or why do you kill the king's ven'son, When your company is so few ?'

'We are shepherds,' said bold Robin Hood,
'And we keep sheep all the year,

And we are disposed to be merry this day,
And to kill of the king's fat deer.'

'You are brave fellows,' said the bishop, 'And the king your doings shall know: Therefore make haste and come along with me, For before the king you shall go.'

'O pardon, O pardon,' said bold Robin Hood, "O pardon, I thee pray!

For it becomes not your lordship's coat

To take so many lives away.

"No pardon, no pardon,' said the bishop,

'No pardon I thee owe;

Therefore make haste and come along with me,

For before the king you shall go.'

Then Robin set his back against a tree,

And his foot against a thorn,

And from underneath his shepherd's coat
He pull'd out a bugle horn.

« AnteriorContinuar »