The Cambridge Book of Poetry and Song

"All the seasons must come and go Over the hill with footsteps slow,Autumn and winter, summer and spring:

Oh, for a bridge of gold to fling
Over the chasin deep and wide,
That I might cross to the other side,
Where she is waiting,- my love, my
bride!"

"Ten years may be long," he said, Slow raising his stately head, "But there's much to win, there is much to lose;

A man must labor, a man must choose,

And he must be strong to wait! The years may be long, but who would wear

The crown of honor, must do and dare!

No time has he to toy with fate Who would climb to manhood's high estate!"

"Ah! life is not long!" he said, Bowing his grand white head. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!

Seven times ten are seventy.
Seventy years! as swift their flight
As swallows cleaving the morning
light,

Or golden gleams at even.
Life is short as a summer night,-
How long, O GOD! is eternity ?”

AT DAWN.

AT dawn when the jubilant morning broke,

And its glory flooded the mountain side,

I said, "'Tis eleven years to-day, Eleven years since my darling died!"

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE.

THE AMERICAN FLAG.

WHEN Freedom from her mountain height

Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night,

And set the stars of glory there;
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure, celestial white
With streakings of the morning
light;

Then from his mansion in the sun
She called her eagle-bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand
The symbol of her chosen land.

Majestic monarch of the cloud!

Who rear'st aloft thy regal form, To hear the tempest-trumpings loud, And see the lightning lances driven, When strive the warriors of the storm,

And rolls the thunder-drum of heaven;

Child of the sun! to thee 'tis given

To guard the banner of the free, To hover in the sulphur smoke, To ward away the battle-stroke, And bid its blendings shine afar, Like rainbows on the cloud of war, The harbingers of victory!

Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly, The sign of hope and triumph ligh, When speaks the signal trumpet tone, And the long line comes gleaming

on;

Ere yet the life-blood, warm and wet, Has dimmed the glistening bayonet, Each soldier eye shall brightly turn To where thy sky-born glories burn,

Flag of the seas! on ocean wave
Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave;
When death, careering on the gale,
Sweeps darkly round the bellied
sail,

And frighted waves rush wildly back
Before the broad-side's reeling rack,
Each dying wanderer of the sea
Shall look at once to heaven and
thee,

And smile to see thy splendors fly
In triumph o'er his closing eye.

Flag of the free heart's hope and home,

By angel hands to valor given; Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy hues were born in

heaven.

For ever float that standard sheet! Where breathes the foe but falls

before us,

With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?

JOHN DRYDEN.

ALEXANDEr's feast; or, the power of MUSIC.

AN ODE IN HONOR OF ST. CECILIA'S DAY.

'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won
By Philip's warlike son:
Aloft in awful state
The godlike hero sate

On his imperial throne:

His valiant peers were placed around,
Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound;
(So should desert in arms be crowned.)
The lovely Thais by his side,,

Sate like a blooming Eastern bride
In flower of youth and beauty's pride.
Happy, happy, happy pair!

None but the brave,

None but the brave deserves the fair.

CHORUS.

Happy, happy, happy pair!

None but the brave,

None but the brave deserves the fair.

Timotheus placed on high,

Amid the tuneful choir,

With flying fingers touched the lyre:
The trembling notes ascend the sky,
And heavenly joys inspire.

The song began from Jove,
Who left his blissful seats above,
(Such is the power of mighty love.)

A dragon's fiery form belied the god:
Sublime on radiant spires he rode,

When he to fair Olympia pressed:

And while he sought her snowy breast:

Then round her slender waist he curled,

And stamped an image of himself, a sovereign of the world. The listening crowd admire the lofty sound,

A present deity! they shout around:

A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound.
With ravished ears
The monarch hears,
Assumes the god,

Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

CHORUS.

With ravished ears
The monarch hears,
Assumes the god,
Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung,
Of Bacchus - ever fair and ever young:

The jolly god in triumph comes;
Sound the trumpets; beat the drums:
Flushed with a purple grace

He comes! he comes!

He shows his honest face;
Now give the hautboys breath.
Bacchus, ever fair and young,
Drinking joys did first ordain;
Bacchus' blessings' are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure:
Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure,

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

CHORUS.

Bacchus' blessings are a treasure,
Drinking is the soldier's pleasure,
Rich the treasure,

Sweet the pleasure,

Sweet is pleasure after pain.

Soothed with the sound the king grew vain;

Fought all his battles o'er again;

And thrice he routed all his foes; and thrice he slew the slain. The master saw the madness rise;

His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;

And, while he heaven and earth defied,
Changed his hand, and checked his pride.
He chose a mournful muse

Soft pity to infuse:

He sung Darius, great and good;

By too severe a fate,

Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
Fallen from his high estate,

And weltering in his blood;
Deserted, at his utmost need,
By those his former bounty fed;
On the bare earth exposed he lies,
With not a friend to close his eyes.

With downcast looks the joyless victor sate,
Revolving in his altered soul

The various turns of chance below;
And, now and then a sigh he stole;
And tears began to flow.

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