"When First I Saw Her" If she be filled with love and scorn, If 'twixt her lips such words are born, Lest he his own rejection seek. Herbert P. Horne [1864 THE LOVER'S SONG 571 LEND me thy fillet, Love! I would no longer see: Then might I pass her sunny face, Then might I hear her voice, nor guess Ah! banished so from stars and sun- If only she might dream me good And wise, and be my mate! Lend her thy fillet, Love! If there is hope for me at all, Edward Rowland Sill [1841-1887]. WHEN FIRST I SAW HER" WHEN first I saw her, at the stroke By sleeping under them at night; By being lovelier than they. 572 O, soft, soft, where the sunshine spread, The world should wake and be a soul. MY APRIL LADY WHEN down the stair at morning Sweet rivulets of laughter Are rippling in her throat; When in the evening twilight While from her hidden eyes My little April lady, Of sunshine and of showers And breaks my heart in flowers! Henry Van Dyke (1852 The Milkmaid 573 THE MILKMAID A NEW SONG TO AN OLD TUNE ACROSS the grass I see her pass; A maid I know, and March winds blow With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, The March winds blow. I watch her go: Her cheek is brown, and soft as down, (To those who see it near!)— With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, What has she not that those have got,- If she undo her kerchief blue, With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Before the spray is white with May, Let those who will be proud and chill! Her laugh is like a tune; With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, Break, break to hear, O crocus-spear! There'll be a bride at Easter-tide, And Dolly is her name. With a hey, Dolly! ho, Dolly! Dolly shall be mine, Before the spray is white with May, Or blooms the eglantine. Austin Dobson [1840 SONG THIS peach is pink with such a pink But where to spy the truest pink The snowdrop, child of windy March, My sweetheart keeps a warmer white. Norman Gale [1862 IN FEBRUARY My Lady's birthday crowns the growing year; I, too, would chant her worth and dare to raise Go, little verse, and lay in vesture meet Of poesy, my homage at her feet. Henry Simpson [1868 Ballade of My Lady's Beauty 575 "LOVE, I MARVEL WHAT YOU ARE" LOVE, I marvel what you are! Heaven in a pearl of dew, Lilies hearted with a star All are you. Spring along your forehead shines And the summer blooms your breast. Graces of autumnal vines Round you rest. Birds about a limpid rose Making song and light of wing While the warm wind sunny blows,- Darling, if the little dust, That I know is merely I, Have availed to win your trust, Let me die. Trumbull Stickney [1874-1904) BALLADE OF MY LADY'S BEAUTY SQUIRE ADAM had two wives, they say, He kissed and clypt them all the day, And Lilith, roses dipped in wine, But though they were a goodly sight, No lady is so fair as mine. To Venus some folk tribute pay, And Queen of Beauty she is hight, And Sainte Marie the world doth sway, In cerule napery bedight. My wonderment these twain invite, Their comeliness it is divine; And yet I say in their despite, No lady is so fair as mine. |