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'And light thy heart beat, though thou 'rt far Away from me;

And bright thy sun shine, though thou 'rt far
Away from me;

And clear thy moon gleam, though thou 'rt far
Away from me;

And still of me think, though I'm far

Away from thee,

As I of thee think, though thou 'rt far
Away from me;

And soon mayst thou be near, not far
Away from me;

And soon may I be near, not far
Away from thee;

And when once more I'm near, not far
Away from thee,

And thou once more art near, not far

Away from me,

Never again shall I stray far

Away from thee,

Nor ever thou again stray far

Away from me,

Till thy last stray, thy long, last stray

Away from me,

Or my last stray, my long, last stray
Away from thee.

THE GREEN HILLS (CO. DUBLIN), April 28, 1860.

FRAGMENT.

I.

FRANKFORT behind us left and city sights,
And city sounds ungrateful to the ear,
We take our evening way toward Offenbach,
Distant an hour, the frontier town of Hesse.
Level and fair our road along the Maine's
Populous, wide-outspread basin; on our left,
Unseen, unheard, but not far off, the river;
Gardens between, where, watering-pot in hand,
The gardener cares the tender cabbage plant
Or lettuce, for the Frankfort burgher's table;
Walnuts upon the right bring back to mind
Baden's fair chaussées fringed on either side,
From the Black Forest to the Nassau frontier,
With elegant Juglans' oval leaves and round,
Delicious-kerneled berry. Oberrad

Not much affords us or to praise or blame,
And, threaded its long street, we reach, at seven,
Our station for the night in Offenbach,

And close our first day's journey (of one hour),
And sup in Kuchler's honest inn, and drink
Our schoppen Rüdesheimer, and at ten,

Mindful of health and homely grandsire saws,

Retire to bed, and

for we drink nor tea

Nor more exciting coffee

sweet, sound sleep.

Next morning, breakfast without tea or coffee:

From both we have suffered and have both renounced,

And prize more our composure all day long,
And sleep at night, and appetite unimpaired,
And steady, tranquil, unembarrassed pulse,
Than the narcotic's treacherous, short-lived joy.
Avaunt, then, Tea and Coffee! To your caves,
Malignant spirits, and with Opium hide
And foul Nicotiana and the juice

That turns the Abyssinian hunter's brain;
And take with ye Ennui and Devils Blue,
And moping, dull Despondency and Heartache,
And let me never see ye more, or hear
Your hated names, but, if I can, forget
That I was once your worshipper and bard.
The morning fair, July the twenty-sixth,
We leave at ten the Swan and follow on,
Along the stately poplar colonnade,

Our road through Bieber, distant one short hour.
From my youth up I 've loved a colonnade
Of whispering poplar, tall and fresh and green,
But till today such colonnade trod never

Of whispering poplar, tall and fresh and green,
As echoed to our footstep the whole way

From Offenbach to Bieber

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Walking from OFFENBACH to ASCHAFFENBURG, July 26, 1860.

THE NINE MAIDENS OF CRACOW.

ONCE upon a time in Cracow,

I've heard say and do believe it,
On a sultry day in summer,

Sad and serious sat nine maidens.

Doing nothing, saying nothing,
Lack-a-daisy sat the maidens
In a honeysuckle arbour,
All the livelong July forenoon.

What are they about, those maidens, All nine sitting with eyes downcast, Folded hands and mouths half open? Read me, if thou canst, the riddle.

Ah! there 's not one of those maidens, Of the whole nine, has a sweetheart; Where's the wonder they look dismal, Now and then cry, heigh-ho, heigh-ho?

"In the wood a tall oak 's growing," Sighing said one of the maidens, "Underneath its spreading branches, When I'm dead, let me be buried."

"There let me be laid beside thee," Said another of the maidens,

"In the shadow of the same oak; Of this wicked world I 'm weary."

"When this poor heart throbs no longer,
I will there be laid between ye,

In that same oak's spreading shadow,"
Said another of the maidens.

"There we'll all be laid together,"
Cried with one voice all the maidens,
"Come, let's go and lay our graves out,
Round that oak's trunk, in a circle."

So into the wood, the maidens,
Arm in arm, went, sad and sighing,
And the óak found, and the grass cut
That about its trunk was growing;

But while some the grass were cutting,
And some bringing stones and crosses,
Lisette, who by chance had looked up,
Saw the tree with young men swarming,

And shrieked loud. All stopped and looked up,

Every heart began to flutter;

When a soft voice from the trée cried:

"Sweetest maidens, we are coming."

In an instant round Lisetta's

Waist was clasped a strong and kind arm;

In an instant Gretchen's cheek was

Glowing red with Julius' kisses;

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