A Song of Somerset. EAST, west, where fortune leads I follow, Some folks at will their bonds can sever; I vurst dra'ed breath in Zummerset." There flowers our own sweet apple blossom: There the wide-spreading orchards be, That stretch from Mendip's rocky bosom Down to the golden Severn sea, A land of many a village, nestling Each in its little, shady combe, Where lads are strong for work or wrestling, And maidens like a rose in bloom: Ah, luckless he who never met A rose-red maid o' Somerset. There Bath with guardian hills surrounded And there, where Saxon monks made merry And Dunstan twisted Satan's tail, The ruined walls of Glastonbury Fair winds, free way, for Youth, the rover; And let my dying eyes be set The Diver. SWIFT, arrowy flight through sun-soft air; And yon June heaven's turquoise stain Ah, joy! to feel the silken wave At anchor in yon little bay, Where points of glittering sapphire play, O beauty of the day that dies! Lambs. He sleeps as a lamb sleeps, Beside his mother. Somewhere in yon blue deeps His tender brother Sleeps like a lamb and leaps. He feeds as a lamb might, A lamb, his brother, Feeds, and is clothed in white. The Gardener. For the light heart or heavy heart Mark thou thy garden,—and not spare Break thou the earth and turn withal, Then set thy little seeds in rows, Hoe, thin, and water then, that these No man shall childless go who hath |