Subtitle: Consisting of His Verses and Extracts From His Correspondence and Journals. Printed for the Use of His Relatives and Friends General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1839 Original Publisher: T. Constable Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE FIRST OF MAY. Inserted in Blackwood’s Magazine for June 1826. The first of May ! The first of May ! Right welcome is the sunny ray That lights the field, the wood, the lea, And wakes the thrush’s melody. I hear the jocund village train, That welcome summer once again, And gather, at the early dawn, Those pearls which glitter on the lawn; For, charm’d hy gentle sprite and fay, Is dew upon the first of May! The priest who clomb the Bracken’s hrow, And paid to Bel th’ adoring vow, To greet with hloody sacrifice, The first red blush of summer skies, – The heathen priest is passed away, But aye returns the first of May! The English youth, the English maid, Who deck the May-pole in the glade, And trip so jocundly along, And wake the echo with their song, And dance upon the village green, And homage pay to village Queen, – Both youth and maid must pass away, But aye returns the first of May ! And yet, with each returning year, The linnet chants his warbling clear, And glitters bright the charm’d May-dew, And moans the sorrowful cuckoo, Springs from the earth the scented flower, All wet with April’s pearly shower, – Both youth and maid must pass away, But aye returns the first of May ! All, all must change, – all, all must fade, – The blooming May, the blooming maid; The seasons shall forget to roll, And melt with heat the frozen pole, – All, all must change, – all, all must…
