Till last by Philip's farm I flow

To join the brimming river,

For men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever.

I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my bank I fret.
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set

With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow

To join the brimming river,

For men may come, and men may go, But I go on forever.

I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,

And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me as I travel,

With many a silvery waterbreak
Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along and flow
To join the brimming river,

For men may come, and men may go,
But I go on forever.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers,
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;

And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,

For men may come, and men may go,

But I go on forever.

A. Tennyson

VI

STARS

'HEY glide upon their endless way, Forever calm, forever bright;

No blind hurry, no delay,

Mark the Daughters of the Night:

They follow in the track of Day,

In divine delight.

Shine on, sweet orbed Souls, for aye,

Forever calm, forever bright:

We ask not whither lies your way,

Nor whence ye came, nor what your light. Be still a dream throughout the day,

A blessing through the night.

B. Cornwall

VII

THE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE

'OME live with me and be my Love,

Co

And we will all the pleasures prove That hills and valleys, dale and field, And all the craggy mountains yield.

There will we sit upon the rocks
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

There will I make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull,
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold.

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my Love.

Thy silver dishes for thy meat

As precious as the gods do eat,
Shall on an ivory table be

Prepared each day for thee and me.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning :
If these delights thy mind may move,
Come live with me and be my Love.

C. Marlowe

VIII

THE KITTEN AND FALLING LEAVES

EE the Kitten on the wall,

SE

Sporting with the leaves that fall,

Withered leaves - -one-two- and three-
From the lofty elder-tree!

Through the calm and frosty air
Of this morning bright and fair,
Eddying round and round they sink
Softly, slowly one might think
From the motions that are made,
Every little leaf conveyed
Sylph or Fairy hither tending,
To this lower world descending,
Each invisible and mute,

In his wavering parachute.

-But the Kitten, how she starts,

Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts!
First at one, and then its fellow,

Just as light, and just as yellow;

There are many now-now one

Now they stop and there are none :
What intenseness of desire

In her upward eye of fire!
With a tiger-leap half-way
Now she meets the coming prey,

Lets it go as fast, and then

Has it in her power again :

Now she works with three or four,
Like an Indian conjuror;

Quick as he in feats of art,

Far beyond in joy of heart.

Were her antics played in the eye
Of a thousand standers-by,
Clapping hands with shouts and stare,
What would little Tabby care

For the plaudits of the crowd?

Over happy to be proud,

Over wealthy in the treasure

Of her own exceeding pleasure!

W. Wordsworth

IX

THE FERRYMAN, VENUS, AND CUPID

SI a fare had lately past,
And thought that side to ply,

I heard one, as it were, in haste,

A boat! a boat! to cry;

Which as I was about to bring,

And came to view my fraught,

Thought I, what more than heavenly thing

Hath fortune hither brought?