I wait for my story,- the birds cannot sing it,
Not one, as he sits on the tree;

The bells cannot ring it, but long years, oh, bring it!
Such as I wish it to be.

66

Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate;

Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover,-
Hush, nightingale, hush! O sweet nightingale, wait
Till I listen and hear

If a step draweth near,
For my love he is late!

66 The skies in the darkness stoop nearer and nearer,
A cluster of stars hangs like fruit in the tree,
The fall of the water comes sweeter, comes clearer:
To what art thou listening, and what dost thou see?
Let the star-clusters grow,
Let the sweet waters flow,
And cross quickly to me.

"You night-moths that hover where honey brims over
From sycamore blossoms, or settle or sleep;

You glowworms, shine out, and the pathway discover
To him that comes darkling along the rough steep.
Ah, my sailor, make haste,
For the time runs to waste,
And my love lieth deep,-

"Too deep for swift telling; and yet, my one lover,
I've conned thee an answer, it waits thee to-night."
By the sycamore passed he, and through the white clover,
Then all the sweet speech I had fashioned took flight;
But I'll love him more, more

Than e'er wife loved before,
Be the days dark or bright.

SEVEN TIMES FOUR.

Heigh-ho! daisies and buttercups!

MATERNITY.

Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall!

When the wind wakes how they rock in the grasses,
And dance with the cuckoo-buds slender and small!
Here's two bonny boys, and here's mother's own lasses,
Eager to gather them all.

Heigh-ho! daisies and buttercups;

Mother shall thread, them a daisy chain;

Sing them a song of the pretty hedge-sparrow,

That loved her brown little ones, loved them full fain;

Sing, "Heart, thou art wide though the house be but narrow,' Sing once, and sing it again.

Heigh-ho! daisies and buttercups!

Sweet wagging cowslips, they bend and they bow; A ship sails afar over warm ocean waters,

And haply one musing doth stand at her prow. O bonny brown sons, and O sweet little daughters, Maybe he thinks of you now.

Heigh-ho! daisies and buttercups!

Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall!

A sunshiny world full of laughter and leisure,

And fresh hearts unconscious of sorrow and thrall! Send down on their pleasure smiles passing its measure, God that is over us all!

I shall not die, but live forlore,-
How bitter it is to part!

Oh, to meet thee, my love, once more!
O my heart, my heart!

No more to hear, no more to see!

Oh, that an echo might wake

And waft one note of thy psalm to me
Ere my heart-strings break!

I should know it how faint soe'er,
And with angel voices blent;

Oh, once to feel thy spirit anear;

I could be content!

Or once between the gates of gold,
While an entering angel trod,
But once, thee sitting to behold
On the hills of God!

SEVEN TIMES SIX. -GIVING IN MARRIAGE.

To bear, to nurse, to rear,

To watch, and then to lose:
To see my bright ones disappear,
Drawn up like morning dews,-
To bear, to nurse, to rear,

To watch, and then to lose:
This have I done when God drew near
Among his own to choose.

To hear, to heed, to wed,

And with thy lord depart

In tears that he, as soon as shed,
Will let no longer smart,-

To hear, to heed, to wed,

This while thou didst I smiled,

For now it was not God who said,
Mother, give ME thy child."

66

O fond, O fool, and blind!

To God I gave with tears;

But when a man like grace would find,
My soul put by her fears,-

O fond, O fool, and blind!

God guards in happier spheres;

That man will guard where he did bind
Is hope for unknown years.

To hear, to heed, to wed,

Fair lot that maidens choose,

Thy mother's tenderest words are said,

Thy face no more she views;

Thy mother's lot, my dear,

She doth in naught accuse;

Her lot to bear, to nurse, to rear,

To love,- and then to lose.

SEVEN TIMES SEVEN. -LONGING FOR HOME.

A song of a boat:

There was once a boat on a billow:

Lightly she rocked to her port remote,

And the foam was white in her wake like snow,

And her frail mast bowed when the breeze would blow,

And bent like a wand of willow.

I shaded mine eyes one day when a boat
Went curtsying over the billow,

I marked her course till a dancing mote,
She faded out on the moonlit foam,

And I stayed behind in the dear-loved home;
And my thoughts all day were about the boat,
And my dreams upon the pillow.

I had a nestful once of my own,

Ah, happy, happy I!

Right dearly I loved them; but when they were grown They spread out their wings to fly

Oh, one after one they flew away

Far up to the heavenly blue,

To the better country, the upper day,
And I wish I was going too.

LIKE A LAVEROCK IN THE LIFT.

Ir's we two, it's we two, it's we two for aye,
All the world and we two, and Heaven be our stay.
Like a laverock in the lift, sing, O bonny bride!
All the world was Adam once, with Eve by his side.

What's the world, my lass, my love!- what can it do?
I am thine, and thou art mine; life is sweet and new.
If the world have missed the mark, let it stand by,
For we two have gotten leave, and once more we'll try.

Like a laverock in the lift, sing, O bonny bride!
It's we two, it's we two, happy side by side.
Take a kiss from me, thy man, now the song begins:
"All is made afresh for us, and the brave heart wins."

When the darker days come, and no sun will shine,
Thou shalt dry my tears, lass, and I'll dry thine.
It's we two, it's we two, while the world's away,
Sitting by the golden sheaves on our wedding-day.