FAREWELL!—but whenever you welcome the hour
That awakens the night-song of mirth in your bower,
Then think of the friend that once welcomed it too,
And forgot his own griefs, to be happy with you.
His griefs may return—not a hope may remain
Of the few that have brightened his pathway of pain—
But he ne’er can forget the short vision that threw...
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From the Greek by Alexander Pope
From “The Iliad,” Book VI.
“TOO daring prince! ah whither dost thou run?
Ah too forgetful of thy wife and son!
And think’st thou not how wretched we shall be,
A widow I, a helpless orphan he!
For sure such courage length of life denies,
And thou must fall, thy virtue’s sacrifice.
Greece in her... -
From the Greek by E. C. Hawtrey
From “The Iliad,” Book VI.
[The following extract is given as showing a more modern style of translation. It embraces the bracketed portion of the foregoing from Pope’s version.]I TOO have thought of all this, dear wife, but I fear the reproaches
Both of the Trojan youths and the long-robed maidens of Troja,
If like a... -
IF to be absent were to be
Away from thee;
Or that, when I am gone,
You or I were alone;
Then, my Lucasta, might I crave
Pity from blustering wind or swallowing wave.But I ’ll not sigh one blast or gale
To swell my sail,
Or pay a tear to ’suage
The foaming blue-god’s rage;
For... -
From “The Tent on the Beach”
HER window opens to the bay,
On glistening light or misty gray,
And there at dawn and set of day
In prayer she kneels:
“Dear Lord!” she saith, “to many a home
From wind and wave the wanderers come;
I only see the tossing foam
Of stranger keels.“Blown out and in by summer gales,...
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Of a’ the airts 1 the wind can blaw,
I dearly like the west;
For there the bonnie lassie lives,
The lassie I lo’e best.
There wild woods grow, and rivers row,
And monie a hill ’s between;
But day and night my fancy’s flight
Is ever wi’ my Jean.I see her in the dewy flowers,
I see her sweet and fair;
I... -
I ’ve wandered east, I ’ve wandered west,
Through mony a weary way;
But never, never can forget
The luve o’ life’s young day!
The fire that ’s blawn on Beltane e’en
May weel be black gin Yule;
But blacker fa’ awaits the heart
Where first fond luve grows cule.O dear, dear Jeanie Morrison,
The thochts o’ bygane... -
O, Saw ye bonnie Leslie
As she gaed o’er the border?
She ’s gane, like Alexander,
To spread her conquests farther.To see her is to love her,
And love but her forever;
For nature made her what she is,
And ne’er made sic anither!Thou art a queen, fair Leslie,
Thy subjects we, before thee;
Thou art... -
O, Wad that my time were owre but,
Wi’ this wintry sleet and snaw,
That I might see our house again,
I’ the bonnie birken shaw!
For this is no my ain life,
And I peak and pine away
Wi’ the thochts o’ hame and the young flowers,
In the glad green month of May.I used to wauk in the morning
Wi’ the loud sang o’... -
What shall I do with all the days and hours
That must be counted ere I see thy face?
How shall I charm the interval that lowers
Between this time and that sweet time of grace?Shall I in slumber steep each weary sense,
Weary with longing?—shall I flee away
Into past days, and with some fond pretence
Cheat myself to forget the...