George Darley

  • Up the dale and down the bourne,
      O’er the meadow swift we fly;
    Now we sing, and now we mourn,
      Now we whistle, now we sigh.

    By the grassy-fringèd river,
      Through the murmuring reeds we sweep;
    Mid the lily-leaves we quiver,
      To their...

  • It is not Beauty I demand,
      A crystal brow, the moon’s despair,
    Nor the snow’s daughter, a white hand,
      Nor mermaid’s yellow pride of hair:

    Tell me not of your starry eyes,
      Your lips that seem on roses fed,
    Your breasts, where Cupid tumbling...

  • Down the dimpled greensward dancing,
      Bursts a flaxen-headed bevy,—
    Bud-lipt boys and girls advancing,
      Love’s irregular little levy.

    Rows of liquid eyes in laughter,
      How they glimmer, how they quiver!
    Sparkling one another after,
      ...