I REMEMBER, I remember I remember, I remember Where I was used to swing, To swallows on the wing; And summer pools could hardly cool The fever on my brow. I remember, I remember The fir-trees dark and high; It was a childish ignorance, To know I'm farther off from Heaven Than when I was a boy. THOMAS HOOD LONG BARREN HOU didst hang upon a barren tree, THOU My God, for me: Though I till now be barren, now at length, To bring forth fruit to Thee. Thou didst bear for me the crown of thorn, Though I till now have put forth thorns, yet now That better fruit be borne. Thou Rose of Sharon, Cedar of broad roots, Thou Lily of the Vale with fadeless leaf, Feed thou my feeble shoots. CHRISTINA ROSSETTI Now MAY MORNING OW the bright morning star, day's harbinger, The flowery May, who from her green lap throws MILTON Ο Do you ask what the birds say? The sparrow, the dove, The linnet and thrush say, “I love, and I love!" And singing and loving--all come back together. S. T. COLERIDGE MAN'S MEDLEY HARK how the birds do sing And woods do ring: All creatures have their joy, and man hath his. Man's joy and pleasure Rather hereafter than in present is. Not that he may not here Taste of the cheer, But, as birds drink, and straight lift up their head, So must he sip and think Of better drink He may attain to after he is dead. Yet even the greatest griefs Could he but take them right and in their ways. Hath found the art To turn his double pains to double praise. GEORGE HERBERT |