THE LOVE-KNOT TYING her bonnet under her chin, They were strolling together up the hill, And it blew a color, bright as the bloom Steeper and steeper grew the hill, The western wind blew down, and played O western wind, do you think it was fair To blow her against the young man's breast, And kissed her mouth and her dimpled chin? Ah! Ellery Vane, you little thought, Riding Down This country lass to walk with you, As she tied her bonnet under her chin! 771 Nora Perry [1832-1896] RIDING DOWN OH, did you see him riding down, Oh, did you hear those bells ring out, And did you see the waving flags, The fluttering flags, the tattered flags, Red, white, and blue, shot through and through, And did you hear the drums' gay beat, And did you see me waiting there, That pressed to see the hero pass? And did you see him smiling down, And smiling down, as riding down My face uplifted red and white, Turned red and white with sheer delight, To meet the eyes, the smiling eyes, Oh, did you see how swift it came, The little lass who blushed to see? And at the windows all along, Each face was like a radiant gem, He turned away from all their grace, The little lass who blushed to see! Nora Perry [1832-1896] BALLAD OF EARL HALDAN'S DAUGHTER It was Earl Haldan's daughter, She looked across the sea; She looked across the water, And long and loud laughed she: "The locks of six princesses Must be my marriage fee: So, hey, bonny boat, and ho, bonny boat! Who comes a-wooing me?" It was Earl Haldan's daughter, She walked along the sand, When she was aware of a knight so fair, Came sailing to the land. "Across the Fields to Anne" 773 His sails were all of velvet, His mast of beaten gold, And "Hey, bonny boat, and ho, bonny boat! Who saileth here so bold?" "The locks of five princesses But one of all the tale; So, hey, bonny boat, and ho, bonny boat! He leaped into the water, That rover young and bold: He gripped Earl Haldan's daughter, He clipped her locks of gold: "Go weep, go weep, proud maiden, The tale is full to-day. Now, hey, bonny boat, and ho, bonny boat! Sail Westward ho! away!" Charles Kingsley [1819-1875] "ACROSS THE FIELDS TO ANNE” How often in the summer-tide, His graver business set aside, Has stripling Will, the thoughtful-eyed, As to the pipe of Pan, Stepped blithesomely with lover's pride It must have been a merry mile, To dear delights of kiss and smile, The silly sheep that graze to-day, The oaks, they have a wiser look; Though now he fleets like any rook And I am sure, that on some hour And bore it as a lover's dower While from her cottage garden-bed What luckier swain than he who sped Richard Burton [1859 PAMELA IN TOWN THE fair Pamela came to town, To London town, in early summer; And up and down and round about The beaux discussed the bright newcomer, With "Gadzooks, sir," and "Ma'am, my duty," And "Odds my life, but 'tis a Beauty!" To Ranelagh went Mistress Pam, Sweet Mistress Pam so fair and merry, With voice of lark and lip of cherry. |