Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere, From yon blue heavens above us bent

The gardener Adam and his wife Smile at the claims of long descent.

Howe'er it be, it seems to me,

"T is only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.

I know you, Clara Vere de Vere, You pine among your halls and towers;

The languid light of your proud eyes

Is wearied of the rolling hours. In glowing health, with boundless wealth,

But sickening of a vague disease, You know so ill to deal with time, You needs must play such pranks as these.

Clara, Clara Vere de Vere,

If time be heavy on your hands, Are there no beggars at your gate, Nor any poor about your lands? O, teach the orphan-boy to read,

Or teach the orphan-girl to sew; Pray Heaven for a human heart, And let the foolish yeoman go.

THE MAY QUEEN

You must wake and call me early,
call me early, mother dear;
To-morrow 'ill be the happiest time of
all the glad New-year;
Of all the glad New-year, mother, the
maddest merriest day,

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mo-
ther, I'm to be Queen o' the
May.
There's many a black, black eye, they

say, but none so bright as mine; There's Margaret and Mary, there's Kate and Caroline;

But none so fair as little Alice in all

the land they say,

So I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

The night-winds come and go, mother, upon the meadow-grass, And the happy stars above them seem to brighten as they pass: There will not be a drop of rain the whole of the livelong day, And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

All the valley, mother, 'ill be fresh and green and still,

And the cowslip and the crowfoot are

over all the hill,

And the rivulet in the flowery dale 'ill merrily glance and play,

I'm to be Queen o' the May. 40

So you must wake and call me early,

call me early, mother dear, To-morrow 'ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year; To-morrow 'ill be of all the year the maddest merriest day, For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

NEW-YEAR'S EVE

IF you're waking call me early, call me early, mother dear,

For I would see the sun rise upon the glad New-year.

It is the last New-year that I shal ever see,

me.

To-night I saw the sun set; he set and left behind

The good old year, the dear old time, and all my peace of mind;

And the New-year's coming up, mother, but I shall never see The blossom on the blackthorn, the leaf upon the tree.

Last May we made a crown of flowers;

we had a merry day;

Beneath the hawthorn on the green they made me Queen of May; And we danced about the may-pole and in the hazel copse, Till Charles's Wain came out above the tall white chimney-tops.

II

O, blessings on his kindly voice and on his silver hair!

And blessings on his whole life long, until he meet me there!

O, blessings on his kindly heart and on his silver head!

A thousand times I blest him, as he knelt beside my bed.

He taught me all the mercy, for he show'd me all the sin. Now, tho' my lamp was lighted late, there's One will let me in; Nor would I now be well, mother, again, if that could be, For my desire is but to pass to Him that died for me.

20

I did not hear the dog howl, mother, or the death-watch beat,

There came a sweeter token when the night and morning meet; But sit beside my bed, mother, and put your hand in mine,

And Effie on the other side, and I will tell the sign.

So now I think my time is near. I trust it is. I know

The blessed music went that way my soul will have to go. And for myself, indeed, I care not if I go to-day;

But, Effie, you must comfort her when I am past away.

And say to Robin a kind word, and tell him not to fret;

There's many a worthier than I, would make him happy yet. If I had lived-I cannot tell- I might have been his wife;

But all these things have ceased to be, with my desire of life.

O, look the sun begins to rise, the heavens are in a glow;