This sweetest day for dalliance was born!
So, without more ado,

I'll feel my heaven anew,

For all the blushing of the hasty morn.

1817.

SONG.

I.

H

USH, hush! tread softly! hush, hush, my dear!
All the house is asleep, but we know very well
That the jealous, the jealous old bald-pate may
hear,

Tho' you've padded his night-cap — O sweet
Isabel

Tho' your feet are more light than a Faery's feet,

Who dances on bubbles where brooklets meet,— Hush, hush! soft tiptoe! hush, hush, my dear! For less than a nothing the jealous can hear.

II.

No leaf doth tremble, no ripple is there

On the river, all's still, and the night's sleepy eye Closes up, and forgets all its Lethean care,

Charm'd to death by the drone of the humming May-fly;

And the moon, whether prudish or complaisant Has fled to her bower, well knowing I want No light in the dusk, no torch in the gloom, But my Isabel's eyes, and her lips pulp'd with bloom

III.

Lift the latch! ah gently! ah tenderly sweet! We are dead if that latchet gives one little clink!

Well done —now those lips, and a flowery seatThe old man may sleep, and the planets may wink;

The shut rose shall dream of our loves and

awake

Full-blown, and such warmth for the morning take,

The stock-dove shall hatch his soft twin-eggs and coo, While I kiss to the melody, aching all through !

1818.

S

FAERY SONG.

HED no tear! O shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
Weep no more! O weep no more!
Young buds sleep in the root's white core.
Dry your eyes! O dry your eyes!
For I was taught in Paradise

To ease my breast of melodies

Shed no tear.

Overhead! look overhead!

'Mong the blossoms white and red-
Look up, look up. I flutter now
On this fresh pomegranate bough.
See me! 'tis this silvery bill
Ever cures the good man's ill.
Shed no tear! O shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
Adieu, Adieu — I fly, adieu,

I vanish in the heaven's blue

Adieu, Adieu !

21

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI.

A BALLAD.

I.

WHAT can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

II.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms !
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,

And the harvest 's done.

III.

I see a lily on thy brow

With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.

IV.

I met a lady in the meads,

Full beautiful · a faery's child, Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild.

V.

I made a garland for her head,

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;

She look'd at me as she did love,

And made sweet moan.

VJ.

I set her on my pacing steed,

And nothing else saw all day long, For sidelong would she bend, and sing A faery song.

VII.

She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said
"I love thee true."

VIII.

She took me to her elfin grot,

And there she wept, and sigh'd full sore, And there I shut her wild wild eyes With kisses four.

IX.

And there she lulled me asleep,

And there I dream'd Ah! woe betide! The latest dream I ever dream'd

On the cold hill's side.

X.

I saw pale kings and princes too,

Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; They cried -"La Belle Dame sans Merci Hath thee in thrall!”

XI.

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,

And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.

XII.

And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,

Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

1819.

THE EVE OF ST. MARK.

(UNFINISHED.)

[PON a Sabbath-day it fell;

UP

Twice holy was the Sabbath-bell,
That call'd the folk to evening prayer;

The city streets were clean and fair
From wholesome drench of April rains,
And, on the western window-panes,
The chilly sunset faintly told
Of unmatured green, valleys cold,
Of the green thorny bloomless hedge,
Of rivers new with spring-tide sedge,
Of primroses by shelter'd rills,
And daisies on the aguish hills.

Twice holy was the Sabbath-bell:
The silent streets were crowded well
With staid and pious companies,
Warm from their fireside orat❜ries;
And moving, with demurest air,
To even-song, and vesper prayer.
Each arched porch, and entry low,
Was fill'd with patient folk and slow,