ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST 25

He will kiss me on the mouth

Then; and lead me as a lover,

Through the crowds that praise his deeds;

And, when soul-tied by one troth,

Unto him I will discover

That swan's nest among the reeds."

Little Ellie with her smile

Not yet ended, rose up gayly,
Tied the bonnet, donned the shoe-
And went homeward, round a mile,
Just to see, as she did daily,

What more eggs were with the two.

Pushing through the elm-tree copse
Winding by the stream, light-hearted,
Where the osier pathway leads,
Past the boughs she stoops, and stops.
Lo, the wild swan had deserted-
And a rat had gnawed the reeds!

Ellie went home sad and slow.
If she found the lover ever,
With his red-roan steed of steeds,
Sooth, I know not! but I know
She could never show him-never,
That swan's nest among the reeds.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

SEE WHAT A LOVELY SHELL

EE what a lovely shell,

SEE

Small and pure as a pearl,

Lying close to my foot,

Frail, but a work divine,

Made so fairily well

With delicate spire and whorl,

How exquisitely minute,
A miracle of design!

What is it? A learned man
Could give a clumsy name.
Let him name it who can,
The beauty would be the same.

The tiny cell is forlorn,

Void of the little living will
That made it stir on the shore.
Did he stand at the diamond door
Of his house in a rainbow frill?
Did he push, when he was uncurl'd,
A golden foot or a fairy horn
Thro' his dim water world?

SEE WHAT A LOVELY SHELL 27

Slight, to be crushed with a tap
Of my finger-nail on the sand,
Small, but a work divine,
Frail, but of force to withstand
Year upon year the shock
Of cataract seas that snap
The three-decker's oaken spine
Athwart the ledges of rock,
Here on the Breton strand!

TENNYSON.

THE ARROW AND THE SONG

I

SHOT an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
LONGFELLOW

THE BALLAD OF THE BOAT

THE stream was smooth as glass; we said, “ Arise, and let's away!"

The Siren sang beside the boat that in the rushes lay;
And spread the sail, and strong the oar; we gayly took

our way.

When shall the sandy bar be crossed? When shall we find the bay?

The broadening flood swells slowly out o'er cattle-dotted plains,

The stream is strong and turbulent, and dark with heavy

rains;

The laborer looks up to see our shallop speed away.

When shall the sandy bar be crossed? When shall we find the bay?

Now are the clouds like fiery shrouds; the sun superbl· large,

Slow as an oak to woodman's stroke sinks flaming at the

marge.

The waves are bright with mirrored light as jacinths on

our way.

When shall the sandy bar be crossed? When shall we find the bay?