And whilst kings' tombs with laurels flourish green, Thine shall with myrtles and these flowers be seen. W. DRUMMOND 142.-A LAMENT FOR FLODDEN 1 I'VE heard the lilting 1 at our yowe-milking, Lassies a-lilting before dawn o' day; But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning 2The Flowers o' the Forest are a' wede away. At bughts,3 in the morning, nae blithe lads are scorning, The lassies are lonely and dowie and wae; Nae daffin', nae gabbin',5 but sighing and sabbing, Ilk ane lifts her leglen and hies her away. 6 In har'st at the shearing, nae youths now are jeering, The bandsters are lyart,8 and runkled, and gray; At fair or at preaching, nae wooing, nae fleeching 9. The Flowers o' the Forest are a' wede away. At e'en in the gloaming, nae swankies 10 are roaming 'Bout stacks wi' the lasses at bogle to play; But ilk ane sits drearie, lamenting her dearieThe Flowers o' the Forest are a' wede away. 1 Singing. 2 Lane. 5 Chatting. 6 Milk-pail. 7 Sheaf-binders. 8 Grizzled. 9 Coaxing. 10 Lithe lads. Dool and wae for the order, sent our lads to the Border! The English, for ance, by guile wan the day; The Flowers o' the Forest, that fought aye the foremost, The prime of our land, are cauld in the clay. We hear nae mair lilting at our yowe-milking; 143. ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, O for a draught of vintage that hath been Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth ! O for a beaker full of the warm South, Full of the true,1 the blushful Hippocrene,1 1 i.e. As inspiring, but real, not fabled (see Class. Dict.) With beaded bubbles winking at the brim, And purple-stainèd mouth; That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget What thou among the leaves hast never known, The weariness, the fever and the fret Here, where men sit and hear each other groan ; Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs, Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies; Where but to think is to be full of sorrow Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, Away! away! for I will fly to thee, Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, But on the viewless wings of poesy, Though the dull brain perplexes and retards: Already with thee! tender is the night, And haply the Queen Moon is on her throne, Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown ways. I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, Fast-fading violets covered up in leaves; The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, eves. Darkling I listen; and, for many a time I have been half in love with easeful Death, Called him soft names in many a museful rhyme, To take into the air my quiet breath; Now more than ever seems it rich to die, To cease upon the midnight with no pain, While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad In such an ecstasy! Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain— Thou wast not born for death, immortal bird! She stood in tears amid the alien corn; Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam Forlorn! the very word is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well As she is famed to do, deceiving elf. Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music :-do I wake or sleep? J. KEATS 144.-STANZAS WRITTEN IN DEJECTION NEAR NAPLES THE sun is warm, the sky is clear, * * * Around its unexpanded buds ; * 1 Like many a voice of one delight— The winds, the birds, the ocean-floodsThe City's voice itself is soft like Solitude's. I see the deep's untrampled floor Like light dissolved in star-showers thrown: 1 There are at least three versions of this stanza: one replaces a "missing" line by asterisks; a second gives-The breath of the moist earth is light"-involving the repetition of "light," as a final syllable, three times; a third avoids this repetition by reading (line 4) "transparent might," of which it is difficult to make sense. I have adopted the first of these readings, and have ventured to follow the precedent of the Golden Treasury in ending the poem with the fourth stanza. |