Love thy mother, little one!

And date it very far away,On a bright clear summer day,When the heart was like a sunTo itself, and falsehood none;And the rosy lips a partOf the very loving heart,And the shining of the eyeBut a sign to know it by;—When my faults were all forgiven,And my life deserved of Heaven.Dearest, let us reckon so,And…

It was the time of roses—We pluck’d them as we pass’d!That churlish season never frown’dOn early lovers yet:O no—the world was newly crown’dWith flowers when first we met!‘Twas twilight, and I bade you go,But still you held me fast;It was the time of roses—We pluck’d them as we pass’d!

No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day.No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,No comfortable feel in any member –No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! –November!

A poet’s wide possession of the earth.He has th’ enjoyment of a flower’s birthBefore its budding—ere the first red streaks,—And Winter cannot rob him of their cheeks.Look—if his dawn be not as other men’s!Twenty bright flushes—ere another kensThe first of sunlight is abroad—he seesIts golden ‘lection of the topmost trees,And opes the splendid fissures of…

‘Oh where, and oh whereIs my bonny laddie gone?’_Old Song_.One day, as I was going byThat part of Holborn christened High,I heard a loud and sodden cry,That chill’d my very blood;And lo! from out a dirty alley,Where pigs and Irish wont to rally,I saw a crazy woman sally,Bedaub’d with grease and mud.She turn’d her East,…

And used to war’s alarms;But a cannon-ball took off his legs,So he laid down his arms.Now as they bore him off the field,Said he, ‘Let others shoot;For here I leave my second leg,And the Forty-second Foot.’The army-surgeons made him limbs:Said he, ‘They’re only pegs;But there’s as wooden members quite,As represent my legs.’Now Ben he loved…