They haled him many a valley-thief
Caught in the sheep-pens, — robber-chief,
Swarthy and shameless,- beggar cheat, —
Spy-prowler, or rough pirate found
On the sea-sand left aground;
And sometimes clung about his feet,
With bleeding lip and burning cheek,
A woman, bitterest wrong to speak
Of one with sullen thickset brows:
And sometimes from the prison-house
The angry priests a pale wretch brought,
Who through some chink had pushed and pressed,
On knees and elbows, belly and breast,
Worm-like into the temple,
At last there by the very God,
Who ever in the darkness strode
Backward and forward, keeping watch
O'er his brazen bowls, such rogues to catch!
And these, all and every one,
The king judged, sitting in the sun.
His councillors, on left and right,
Looked anxious up, but no surprise
Disturbed the king's old smiling eyes,
Where the very blue had turned to white.
"T is said, a Python scared one day
The breathless city, till he came,
With forky tongue and eyes on flame,
Where the old king sat to judge alway;
But when he saw the sweepy hair,
Girt with a crown of berries rare
Which the God will hardly give to wear
To the maiden who singeth, dancing bare
In the altar-smoke by the pine-torch lights,
At his wondrous forest rites,-
Beholding this, he did not dare
Approach that threshold in the sun,
Assault the old king smiling there.
Such grace had kings when the world begun!
"OVERHEAD THE TREE-TOPS MEET."
YOU'LL love me yet!- and I can tarry
Your love's protracted growing:
June reared that bunch of flowers you carry
From seeds of April's sowing.
And yield - what you 'll not pluck indeed,
Not love, but, may be, like!
You'll look at least on love's remains,
A grave's one violet:
Your look? - That pays a thousand pains.
What's death? - You 'll love me yet!
"OVERHEAD THE TREE-TOPS MEET."
VERHEAD the tree-tops meet
Flowers and grass spring 'neath one's feet-
There was naught above me, and naught below,
My childhood had not learned to know!
For, what are the voices of birds,
-Ay, and of beasts, but words,
The knowledge of that with my life begun!
But I had so near made out the sun,
And counted your stars, the Seven and One,
Like the fingers of my hand:
Nay, I could all but understand
Wherefore through heaven the white moon ranges ;
And just when out of her soft fifty changes
No unfamiliar face might overlook me-
Suddenly God took me !
ENTISH Sir Byng stood for his King,
Bidding the crop-headed Parliament swing:
And, pressing a troop unable to stoop
And see the rogues flourish and honest folk droop,
Marched them along, fifty-score strong,
Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.
God for King Charles! Pym and such carles
To the Devil that prompts 'em their treasonous parles!
Cavaliers, up! Lips from the cup,
Hands from the pasty, nor bite take nor sup
Till you 're (Chorus) marching along, fifty-score strong,
Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.
Hampden to Hell, and his obsequies' knell
Serve Hazelrig, Fiennes, and young Harry as well!
England, good cheer! Rupert is near!
Kentish and loyalists, keep we not here
(Cho.) Marching along, fifty-score strong,
Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this
Then, God for King Charles! Pym and his snarls
To the Devil that pricks on such pestilent carles !
Hold by the right, you double your might;
So, onward to Nottingham, fresh for the fight,
(Cho.) March we along, fifty-score strong,
Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.
ING CHARLES, and who 'll do him right now?
King Charles, and who 's ripe for fight now?
Give a rouse here 's, in Hell's despite now,
Who gave me the goods that went since ?
Who raised me the house that sank once?
Who helped me to gold I spent since ?
Who found me in wine you drank once?
(Cho.) King Charles, and who 'll do him right now?
King Charles, and who 's ripe for fight now?
Give a rouse: here 's, in Hell's despite now,
King Charles!
To whom used my boy George quaff else,
By the old fool's side that begot him?
For whom did he cheer and laugh else,
While Noll's damned troopers shot him?
(Cho.) King Charles, and who 'll do him right now?
King Charles, and who 's ripe for fight now?
Give a rouse here 's, in Hell's despite now,
King Charles!
OOT, saddle, to horse, and away! Rescue my Castle, before the hot day Brightens to blue from its silvery gray,
(Cho.) Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!
Ride past the suburbs, asleep as you'd say;
Many 's the friend there will listen and pray
"God's luck to gallants that strike up the lay,
(Cho.) Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"
Forty miles off, like a roebuck at bay,
Flouts Castle Brancepeth the Roundheads' array:
Who laughs, "Good fellows ere this, by my fay,
(Cho.) Boot, saddle, to horse, and
away?"
Who? My wife Gertrude; that, honest and gay,
Laughs when you talk of surrendering, “Nay!
I've better counsellors; what counsel they?
(Cho.) Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"
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