20 THE OLD CLOCK ON THE STAIRS

Through days of sorrow and of mirth,
Through days of death and days of birth
Through every swift vicissitude

Of changeful time, unchanged it has stood,
And as if, like God, it all things saw,
It calmly repeats those words of awe,-
"Forever-never!

Never-forever!"

In that mansion used to be
Free-hearted Hospitality;

His great fires up the chimney roared;
The stranger feasted at his board;
But, like the skeleton at the feast,
That warning time-piece never ceased,-
"Forever-never!

Never-forever!"

There groups of merry children played,
There youths and maidens dreaming strayed;
O precious hours! O golden prime,

And affluence of love and time!

Even as a miser counts his gold,

Those hours the ancient time-piece told,

O MARY, GO AND CALL THE CATTLE HOME

MARY, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

Across the sands o' Dee!"

The western wind was wild and dank wi' foam,
And all alone went she.

The creeping tide came up along the sand,
And o'er and o'er the sand,

And round and round the sand,

As far as eye could see;

The blinding mist came down and hid the land:
And never home came she.

"Oh, is it weed, or fish, or floating hair,-
A tress o' golden hair,—

O' drowned maiden's hair,

Above the nets at sea?

Was never salmon yet that shone so fair,
Among the stakes on Dee."

They rowed her in across the rolling foam,—
The cruel, crawling foam,-

The cruel, hungry foam,—

To her grave beside the sea;

But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home

Across the sands o' Dee.

CHARLES KINGSLEY.

ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST

LITTLE Ellie sits alone

'Mid the beeches of the meadow,
By a stream-side on the grass;
And the trees are showering down
Doubles of their leaves in shadow,
On her shining hair and face.

She has thrown her bonnet by;
And her feet she has been dipping
In the shallow water's flow.
Now she holds them nakedly

In her hands all sleek and dripping,
While she rocketh to and fro.

Little Ellie sits alone,

And the smile she softly uses,

Fills the silence like a speech;

While she thinks what shall be done,~
And the sweetest pleasure chooses

For her future within reach.

Little Ellie in her smile

Chooses, "I will have a lover,

Riding on a steed of steeds!
He shall love me without guile;
And to him I will discover

That swan's nest among the reeds.

ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST 23

"And the steed shall be red-roan,
And the lover shall be noble,

With an eye that takes the breath;
And the lute he plays upon

Shall strike ladies into trouble,

As his sword strikes men to death!

"And the steed it shall be shod
All in silver, housed in azure,

And the mane shall swim the wind;
And the hoofs along the sod,

Shall flash onward and keep measure,
Till the shepherds look behind.

"But my lover will not prize
All the glory that he rides in,
When he gazes in my face;
He will say, 'O Love, thine eyes
Build the shrine my soul abides in;
And I kneel here for thy grace.'

"Then, ay, then he shall kneel low,
With the red-roan steed a-near him,
Which shall seem to understand-
Till I answer, 'Rise, and go!'

For the world must love and fear him
Whom I gift with heart and hand.

"Then he will arise so pale,

I shall feel my own lips tremble
With a yes I must not say—

24

ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST

Nathless maiden-brave, 'Farewell,'

I will utter and dissemble-
'Light to-morrow with today.'

"Then he'll ride among the hills
To the wide world past the river,
There to put away all wrong,
To make straight distorted wills,
And to empty the broad quiver
Which the wicked bear along.

Three times shall a young foot-page
Swim the stream and climb the mountain,
And kneel down beside my feet-
'Lo! my master sends this gage,
Lady, for thy pity's counting!
What wilt thou exchange for it?'

"And the first time I will send
A white rosebud for a guerdon,
And the second time a glove;
But the third time-I may bend
From my pride, and answer-' Pardon,
If he comes to take my love.'

'Then the young foot-page will run

Then my lover will ride faster,

Till he kneeleth at my knee:
'I am a duke's eldest son!

Thousand serfs do call me master,

But, O Love, I love but thee!'