May Margaret IIII And my prayer goes up, "Oh, give us, crowned in youth with marriage glory, Give for all our life's dear story, Give us love, and give us peace!" Jean Ingelow [1820-1897] A BIRTHDAY My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a watered shoot; My heart is like an apple-tree Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit; Raise me a dais of silk and down; Hang it with vair and purple dyes; IF Christina Georgina Rossetti [1830-1894] MAY MARGARET you be that May Margaret That lived on Kendal Green, Then where's that sunny hair of yours That crowned you like a queen? That sunny hair is dim, lad, They said was like a crown— If you be yet May Margaret, The bonny smile is wan, lad, If you be that May Margaret, Then where's that proud, cold heart of yours The proud, cold heart has bled Then Margaret, my Margaret, Your hair is yet the sunniest gold, And dearer yet and fairer yet For all the coming years— The fairer for the waiting, The dearer for the tears! Théophile Marzials [1850– RONDEL KISSING her hair, I sat against her feet, Wove and unwove it, wound and found it sweet; Made fast therewith her hands, drew down her eyes, Deep as deep flowers and dreamy like dim skies; With her own tresses bound and found her fair, Kissing her hair. Sleep were no sweeter than her face to me, Algernon Charles Swinburne [1837-1909] The Brookside "I LOVE MY LOVE" WHAT is the meaning of the song Thou lark above the cloud? What says thy song, thou joyous thrush, "I love my Love, because I know What is the meaning of thy thought, There is such pleasure in thine eyes, O happy words! at Beauty's feet And Care comes on with Time, "I love my Love, because I know, 1113 Charles Mackay [1814-1889] THE BROOKSIDE I WANDERED by the brookside, I wandered by the mill; I could not hear the brook flow, The noisy wheel was still; There was no burr of grasshopper, No chirp of any bird, But the beating of my own heart Was all the sound I heard. I sat beneath the elm-tree; I listened for a word, But the beating of my own heart Was all the sound I heard. He came not, no, he came not,— The night came on alone, The little stars sat, one by one, Each on his golden throne; The evening wind passed by my cheek, ་ But the beating of my own heart Fast silent tears were flowing, For the beating of our own hearts Was all the sound we heard. Richard Monckton Milnes [1809-1885] THE WORLD IS MINE FOR me the jasmine buds unfold And silver daisies star the lea, The crocus hoards the sunset gold, And the wild rose breathes for me. I feel the sap through the bough returning, I share the skylark's transport fine, I know the fountain's wayward yearning; I love, and the world is mine! What My Lover Said I love, and thoughts that sometime grieved, Still well remembered, grieve not me; From all that darkened and deceived Upsoars my spirit free. For soft the hours repeat one story, Sings the sea one strain divine, My clouds arise all flushed with glory; I love, and the world is mine! Florence Earle Coates [1850 1115 WHAT MY LOVER SAID By the merest chance, in the twilight gloom, In the tall, wet grass, with its faint perfume, Oh, I tried, but he would not let me. While he took my hand as he whispering said— Oh, the clover in bloom, I love it!) In the high, wet grass went the path to hide, But I could not pass upon either side, In the arms of my steadfast lover. And he looked down into my eyes and said- Oh, the leaves hanging lowly o'er me!) Had he moved aside but a little way, I could surely then have passed him; And he knew I never could wish to stay, |