When love comes knocking at thy gate,
Bid him at once depart:
He will be patient, and will wait
The bidding of thy heart.
Tell him he knocketh there in vain;
That he may ne’er come in:
He ’ll smiling leave, but come again,
Thy loving heart to win.
Then, when at last he knocks in tears,
Oh! open wide Love’s...
If i but knew what the tree-tops say,
Whispering secrets night and day,
I ’d make a song, my love, for you,
If I but knew—if I but knew.
If I but knew how the lilies brew
Nectar rare from a drop of dew,
A crystal glass I ’d fill for you,
If I but knew—if I but knew.
Love, if I knew but one tender word,
Sweet...
Wake not, but hear me, love!
Adrift, adrift on slumber’s sea,
Thy spirit call to list to me.
Wake not, but hear me, love!
A gift from Sleep, the restful king,
All happy, happy dreams I bring.
Wake not, but hear me, love!
Of all the world of dreams ’t is thine
This once to choose the most divine.
So choose,...
The roses of yesteryear
Were all of them white and red:
It fills my heart with silent fear
To find all their beauty fled.
The roses of white are sere,
All faded the roses of red;
And one who loves me is not here,
And one that I love is dead.
Art thou the same, thou sobbing winter wind?
The same that rocked the cradle of the May,
That whispered through the leaves in summer noon,
And swelled the anthem of the full-crowned year?
Art thou the same, thou piteous, moaning thing,
Beating against the pane with ghostly hands,
Wailing in agony across the waste,—
Art thou the same—the...
I
in the darkness deep
Of the donjon-keep,
Where the spiders spin their strands;
In the home of bats
And of old gray rats,
Are my lord the turnkey’s lands.
O, his task is light,
But from morn till night
On his rounds he needs must go.
It is tramp, tramp, tramp,...
1
let hammer on anvil ring,
And the forge fire brightly shine;
Let wars rage still,
While I work with a will
At this peaceful trade of mine.
The sword is a weapon to conquer fields;
I honor the man who shakes it:
But naught is the lad who the broad-sword wields
Compared to the lad who makes it....
I ’m king of the road! I gather
My toll on the world’s highways.
They pave the street for my royal feet,
And the man in the wagon pays.
With my sturdy heels I laugh at wheels;
I hurry at no man’s will,
For the rich who ride my meat provide;
They must feed the king to his fill.
I ’m kin of the road! Before me
My way lies...
I ’s a little Alabama Coon,
And I has n’t been born very long;
I ’member seein’ a great big round moon;
I ’member hearin’ one sweet song.
When dey tote me down to de cotton field,
Dar I roll and I tumble in de sun;
While my daddy pick de cotton, mammy watch me grow,
And dis am de song she sung:
Go to sleep, my little...
Whipp’will ’s singin’ to de moon,—
Go sleep, ma honey, m—m.
He sing a pow’ful mo’nful tune,
Go sleep, ma honey, m—m.
De day bird ’s sleepin’ on his nes’,
He know it time to take a res’,
An’ he gwine ter do his lebel bes’,—
Go sleep, ma honey, m—m.
Old banjo ’s laid away,—
Go sleep, ma honey, m—m....
