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XXVIII

THE RAINBOW

A fragment of a rainbow bright
Through the moist air I see,
All dark and damp on yonder height,
All bright and clear to me.

An hour ago the storm was here,
The gleam was far behind,
So will our joys and grief appear,
When earth has ceased to blind.

Grief will be joy if on its edge
Fall soft that holiest ray,

Joy will be grief if no faint pledge
Be there of heavenly day.

7. Keble

XXIX

THE RAVEN AND THE OAK

Underneath an old oak tree

There was of swine a huge company,

That grunted as they crunch'd the mast:

For that was ripe and fell full fast.

Then they trotted away, for the wind it grew high:

One acorn

they left and no more might you spy.

Next came a Raven that liked not such folly:

He belonged, they did say, to the witch Melan

choly!

Blacker was he than blackest jet,

Flew low in the rain and his feathers not wet.
He picked up the acorn and buried it straight
By the side of a river both deep and great.
Where then did the Raven go?

He went high and low,

Over hill, over dale, did the black Raven go.
Many autumns, many springs
Travelled he with wandering wings:
Many summers, many winters-

I can't tell half his adventures.

At length he came back, and with him a she,
And the acorn was grown to a tall oak tree.
They built them a nest in the topmost bough,
And young ones they had and were happy enow.
But soon came a woodman in leathern guise,
His brow, like a pent house, hung over his eyes.
He'd an axe in his hand, not a word he spoke,
But with many a hem! and a sturdy stroke,
At length he brought down the poor Raven's old
oak.

His young ones were killed, for they could not depart,

And their mother did die of a broken heart.

The boughs from the trunk the woodman did sever; And they floated it down on the course of the river. They sawed it in planks, and its bark they did strip,

And with this tree and others they made a good ship.

folly: tch Me

t wet

aight

at.

en go

1gs:

The ship it was launched; but in sight of the land
Such a storm there did rise as no ship could with-

stand.

It bulged on a rock, and the waves rushed in fast:
Round and round flew the Raven and cawed to the
blast.

He heard the last shriek of the perishing souls→→→
See! see! o'er the top-mast the mad water rolls!
Right glad was the Raven, and off he went
fleet,

And Death riding home on a cloud he did meet,
And he thanked him again and again for this treat:
They had taken his all, and revenge it was
S. T. Coleridge ·

sweet.

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XXX

ODE TO THE CUCKOO

Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove!
Thou messenger of spring!

Now Heaven repairs thy rural seat,
And woods thy welcome sing.

What time the daisy decks the green,
Thy certain voice we hear;
Hast thou a star to guide thy path,
Or mark the rolling year

r?

Delightful visitant, with thee

I hail the time of flowers,

And hear the sound of music sweet

From birds among the bowers.

The school-boy wandering through the wood To pull the primrose gay,

Starts the new voice of spring to hear,

And imitates the lay.

What time the pea puts on the bloom

Thou fliest thy vocal vale,

An annual guest in other lands,
Another spring to hail.

Sweet bird thy bower is ever green,

Thy sky is ever clear;

Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
No winter in thy year!

O could I fly, I'd fly with thee !
We'd make, with joyful wing,
Our annual visit o'er the globe,
Companions of the spring.

Michael Bruce.

XXXI

ROBIN HOOD AND ALLIN A DALE

Come listen to me, you gallants so free,

All you that love mirth for to hear, And I will tell you of a bold outlaw That lived in Nottinghamshire.

As Robin Hood in the forest stood,
All under the greenwood tree,

There he was aware of a brave young man
As fine as fine might be.

The youngster was cloth'd in scarlet red,

In scarlet fine and gay;

And he did frisk it over the plain,

And chanted a roundelay.

As Robin Hood next morning stood

Amongst the leaves so gay,

There did he espy the same young man,
Come drooping along the way.

The scarlet he wore the day before
It was clean cast away;

And at every step he fetch'd a sigh,
'Alack and a well-a-day!'

Then stepp'd forth brave Little John,

And Midge, the miller's son,

Which made the young man bend his bow, When as he saw them come.

'Stand off, stand off!' the young man said, 'What is your will with me?'

'You must come before our master straight, Under yon greenwood tree.'

And when he came bold Robin before,

Robin asked him courteously,

'O, hast thou any money to spare For my merry men and me?'

'I have no money,' the young man said, 'But five shillings and a ring;

And that I have kept this seven long years, To have it at my wedding.

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