Their aprons all our sisters lent For copes, which gave us great content;And handkerchiefs, embroider'd o'er, Instead of stoles we also wore;Gold paper, whereon beasts were traced, The bishop's brow as mitre graced.
Through house and garden thus in state We strutted early, strutted late, Repeating with all proper unction, Incessantly each holy function.
The best was wanting to the game;
We knew that a sonorous ringWas here a most important thing;But Fortune to our rescue came, For on the ground a halter lay;We were delighted, and at onceMade it a bellrope for the nonce, And kept it moving all the day;In turns each sister and each brotherActed as sexton to another;All help'd to swell the joyous throng;
The whole proceeded swimmingly,And since no actual bell had we, We all in chorus sang, Ding dong!
Our guileless child's-sport long was hush'dIn memory's tomb, like some old lay;And yet across my mind it rush'dWith pristine force the other day.
The New-Poetic Catholics In ev'ry point its aptness fix!
1815.
SONGS.
SONGS are like painted window-panes!
In darkness wrapp'd the church remains, If from the market-place we view it;Thus sees the ignoramus through it.
No wonder that he deems it tame,--And all his life 'twill be the same.
But let us now inside repair, And greet the holy Chapel there!
At once the whole seems clear and bright, Each ornament is bathed in light, And fraught with meaning to the sight.
God's children! thus your fortune prize, Be edified, and feast your eyes!
1827.
POETRY.
GOD to his untaught children sentLaw, order, knowledge, art, from high, And ev'ry heav'nly favour lent,The world's hard lot to qualify.
They knew not how they should behave,For all from Heav'n stark-naked came;But Poetry their garments gave,And then not one had cause for shame.
1816.
A PARABLE.
I PICKED a rustic nosegay lately, And bore it homewards, musing greatly;When, heated by my hand, I found The heads all drooping tow'rd the ground.
I plac'd them in a well-cool'd glass, And what a wonder came to pass The heads soon raised themselves once more.
The stalks were blooming as before, And all were in as good a case As when they left their native place.
So felt I, when I wond'ring heard My song to foreign tongues transferr'd.
1828.
SHOULD E'ER THE LOVELESS DAY.
SHOULD e'er the loveless day remain Obscured by storms of hail and rain,Thy charms thou showest never;I tap at window, tap at door:
Come, lov'd one, come! appear once more!
Thou art as fair as ever!
1827.
A PLAN THE MUSES ENTERTAINED.
A PLAN the Muses entertain'dMethodically to impartTo Psyche the poetic art;Prosaic-pure her soul remain'd.
No wondrous sounds escaped her lyreE'en in the fairest Summer night;But Amor came with glance of fire,--The lesson soon was learn'd aright.
1827.
THE DEATH OF THE FLY.
WITH eagerness he drinks the treach'rous potion,Nor stops to rest, by the first taste misled;Sweet is the draught, but soon all power of motionHe finds has from his tender members fled;No longer has he strength to plume his wing, No longer strength to raise his head, poor thing!
E'en in enjoyment's hour his life he loses, His little foot to bear his weight refuses;So on he sips, and ere his draught is o'er, Death veils his thousand eyes for evermore.
1810.
BY THE RIVER.
WHEN by the broad stream thou dost dwell,Oft shallow is its sluggish flood;Then, when thy fields thou tendest well,It o'er them spreads its slime and mud.
The ships descend ere daylight wanes,The prudent fisher upward goes;Round reef and rock ice casts its chains,And boys at will the pathway close.
To this attend, then, carefully,And what thou wouldst, that execute!
Ne'er linger, ne'er o'erhasty be,For time moves on with measured foot.
1821.
THE FOX AND CRANE.
ONCE two persons uninvitedCame to join my dinner table;For the nonce they lived united,Fox and crane yclept in fable.
Civil greetings pass'd between usThen I pluck'd some pigeons tender For the fox of jackal-genius,Adding grapes in full-grown splendour.
Long-neck'd flasks I put as dishesFor the crane, without delaying, Fill'd with gold and silver fishes,In the limpid water playing.
Had ye witness'd Reynard plantedAt his flat plate, all demurely, Ye with envy must have granted:
"Ne'er was such a gourmand, surely!"
While the bird with circumspectionOn one foot, as usual, cradled, From the flasks his fish-refectionWith his bill and long neck ladled.
One the pigeons praised,--the other,As they went, extoll'd the fishes, Each one scoffing at his brotherFor preferring vulgar dishes.
If thou wouldst preserve thy credit,When thou askest folks to guzzle At thy hoard, take care to spread itSuited both for bill and muzzle.
1819.
THE FOX AND HUNTSMAN.
HARD 'tis on a fox's tracesTo arrive, midst forest-glades;Hopeless utterly the chase is,If his flight the huntsman aids.
And so 'tis with many a wonder,(Why A B make Ab in fact,)Over which we gape and blunder,And our head and brains distract.
1821.
THE FROGS.
A POOL was once congeal'd with frost;
The frogs, in its deep waters lost,No longer dared to croak or spring;But promised, being half asleep, If suffer'd to the air to creep,As very nightingales to sing.
A thaw dissolved the ice so strong,--They proudly steer'd themselves along, When landed, squatted on the shore, And croak'd as loudly as before.
1821.
THE WEDDING.
A FEAST was in a village spread,--It was a wedding-day, they said.
The parlour of the inn I found, And saw the couples whirling round, Each lass attended by her lad, And all seem'd loving, blithe, and glad;But on my asking for the bride, A fellow with a stare, replied:
"'Tis not the place that point to raise!
We're only dancing in her honour;
We now have danced three nights and days,And not bestowed one thought upon her."
Whoe'er in life employs his eyes Such cases oft will recognise.
1821.
BURIAL.
To the grave one day from a house they boreA maiden;To the window the citizens went to explore;In splendour they lived, and with wealth as of yoreTheir banquets were laden.
