FAIRY SONG

"If you are not the heiress born,
And I," said he, "the next in blood, —

"If you are not the heiress born,
And I," said he, "the lawful heir,
We two will wed to-morrow morn,
And you shall still be Lady Clare."
Alfred Tennyson.

FAIRY SONG

OVER hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be,
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favors,
In those freckles live their savors.
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

Shakespeare.

LULLABY FOR TITANIA

First Fairy

You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our Fairy Queen.

Chorus

Philomel with melody

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby :
Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh!

So good-night, with lullaby.

Second Fairy

Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence;

Beetles black, approach not near;

Worm, nor snail, do no offense.

Chorus

Philomel with melody

Sing in our sweet lullaby; Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby!

Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,

Come our lovely lady nigh!

So good-night, with lullaby.

Shakespeare.

EPITAPH-SONG

171

EPITAPH ON THE COUNTESS OF PEM

BROKE

UNDERNEATH this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother;
Death! ere thou hast slain another,
Learned and fair and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.

Ben Jonson.

SONG

WHO is the baby, that doth lie
Beneath the silken canopy
Of thy blue eye?

It is young Sorrow, laid asleep
In the crystal deep.

Let us sing his lullaby,

Heigho! a sob and a sigh.

What sound is that, so soft, so clear,
Harmonious as a bubbled tear

Bursting, we hear?

It is young Sorrow, slumber breaking,
Suddenly waking.

Let us sing his lullaby,

Heigho! a sob and a sigh.

Thomas Lovell Beddoes.

ANNABEL LEE

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child, and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;

But we loved with a love that was more than love,

I and my Annabel Lee;

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me;

Yes!

that was the reason (as all men know In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

THE SHEPherd of KING ADMETUS 173

But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we,

Of many far wiser than we;

And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling-my darling my life and my

bride,

In her sepulchre there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe.

THE SHEPHERD OF KING ADMETUS

THERE came a youth upon the earth,
Some thousand years ago,

Whose slender hands were nothing worth,
Whether to plough, or reap, or sow.

Upon an empty tortoise-shell

He stretched some chords, and drew
Music that made men's bosoms swell

Fearless, or brimmed their eyes with dew.