Romance and Reality She sate by the pillar; we saw her clcar; "Margaret, hist! come quick, we are here. Dear heart," I said, "we are here alone. The sea grows stormy, the little ones moan.' For her eyes were seal'd to the holy book. Down, down, down, Down to the depths of the sea, She sits at her wheel in the humming town, Hark what she sings: "O joy, O joy, For the humming street, and the child with its toy, For the priest and the bell, and the holy well, And the blessed light of the sun." And so she sings her fill, Singing most joyfully, Till the shuttle falls from her hand, And the whizzing wheel stands still. She steals to the window and looks at the sand; And over the sand at the sea; From a sorrow clouded eye, And a heart sorrow laden, A long, long sigh, For the cold strange eyes of a little Mermaiden, And the gleam of her golden hair. Come away, away, children, A pavement of pearl. Singing, "Here came a mortal, But faithless was she, And alone dwell forever But, children, at midnight, When sweet airs come seaward Romance and Reality Romance and Reality And high rocks throw mildly We will gaze from the sand-hills At the church on the hillside And then come back, down. She left lonely forever The kings of the sea." MATTHEW ARNOLD. The Sands of Dee I "O Mary, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, And call the cattle home Across the sands of Dee; The western wind was wild and dank wi' foam, And all alone went she. II The western tide crept up along the sand, And round and round the sand, As far as eye could see. The rolling mist came down and hid the land— III "Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair— A tress o' golden hair, A drowned maiden's hair Above the nets at sea? Was never salmon yet that shone so fair IV They rowed her in across the rolling foam, The cruel hungry foam, To her grave beside the sea: But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home Across the sands of Dee! CHARLES KINGSLEY. Romance and Reality Romance and The "Gray Swan" Reality "Oh, tell me, sailor, tell me true, Is my little lad, my Elihu, A-sailing with your ship?" The sailor's eyes were dim with dew. He said with trembling lip,- "What little lad? as if there could be What little lad, do you say? Why Elihu, that took to the sea The 'Gray Swan' sailed away." "The other day?" The sailor's eyes "The other day? the 'Swan'?” His heart began in his throat to rise. The jacket he had on." "And so your lad is gone?" "Gone with the Swan"? "_" And did she stand With her anchor clutching hold of the sand For a month, and never stir?" |