Clear and cool, clear and cool, By laughing shallow and dreaming pool; Cool and clear, cool and clear, By shining shingle and foaming weir; Under the crag where the ouzel sings, And the ivied wall where the church-bell rings, Undefiled for the undefiled; Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child! Dank and foul, dank and foul, By the smoky town in its murky cowl; Foul and dank, foul and dank, By wharf, and sewer, and slimy bank; Darker and darker the further I go. Baser and baser the richer I grow; Who dare sport with the sin-defiled? Shrink from me, turn from me, mother and child! Strong and free, strong and free, The flood-gates are open, away to the sea: Free and strong, free and strong, Cleansing my streams as I hurry along To the golden sands and the leaping bar, And the taintless tide that awaits me afar, As I lose myself in the infinite main, Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again, Undefiled for the undefiled; Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child!
Song of the River
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Three fishers went sailing out into the west,— Out into the west as the sun went down; Each thought of the woman who loved him the best, And the children stood watching them out of the town; For men must work, and women must weep; And there ’s little to earn, and many to keep, Though the...
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“o Mary, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, Across the sands o’ Dee!” The western wind was wild and dank wi’ foam, And all alone went she. The creeping tide came up along the sand, And o’er and o’er the sand, And round...
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Clear and cool, clear and cool, By laughing shallow and dreaming pool; Cool and clear, cool and clear, By shining shingle and foaming weir; Under the crag where the ouzel sings, And the ivied wall where the church-bell rings, Undefiled for the undefiled; Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child...
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The English Game Laws THE MERRY brown hares came leaping Over the crest of the hill, Where the clover and corn lay sleeping, Under the moonlight still. Leaping late and early, Till under their bite and their tread, The swedes, and the wheat, and the barley Lay cankered, and trampled, and...
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The World goes up and the world goes down, And the sunshine follows the rain; And yesterday’s sneer, and yesterday’s frown, Can never come over again, Sweet wife, No, never come over again. For woman is warm, though man be cold, And the night will hallow the day; Till the...