The seed's waste, I know, boys, 'Tis cropp'd out, I trow, boys, Send the colt to fair, boys, He's going blind, as I said, Stop the mill to-morn, boys, Neither white nor red; There's no sign of grass, boys, You may sell the goat and the ass, boys, The land's not what it was, boys, And the beasts must be fed; You may turn Peg away, boys, You may pay off old Ned, We've had a dull day, boys, And Tommy's dead. Move my chair on the floor, boys, Let me turn my head; She's standing there in the door, boys, Your sister Winifred! Take her away from me, boys, Your sister Winifred! Move me round in my place, boys, Take her away from me, boys, As she lay on her death-bed, But I see her looking at me, boys, Wherever I turn my Out of the big oak tree, boys, And the lily as pale as she, boys, There's something not right, boys, But I think it's not in my head, I've kept my precious sight, boys,The Lord be hallowéd! Outside and in The ground is cold to my tread, The hills are wizen and thin, The sky is shrivell'd and shred, The hedges down by the loan I can count them bone by bone, The leaves are open and spread, But I see the teeth of the land, And hands like a dead man's hand, And the eyes of a dead man's head. There's nothing but cinders and sand, The rat and the mouse have fed, And the summer's empty and cold; Over valley and wold Wherever I turn my head There's a mildew and a mould, The sun's going out overhead, And I'm very old, And Tommy's dead. What am I staying for, boys? She was always sweet, boys, She knew she'd never see't, boys, Put the shutters up, boys, Bring out the beer and bread, Make haste and sup, boys, For my eyes are heavy as lead; There's something wrong i' the cup, boys, There's something ill wi' the bread, I don't care to sup, boys, And Tommy's dead. I'm not right, I doubt, boys, I shall nevermore be stout, boys, You may carry me to bed. The prayers are all said, The stairs are too steep, boys, I'm not used to kiss, boys, You may shake my hand instead. All things go amiss, boys, You may lay me where she is, boys, And I'll rest my old head : 'Tis a poor world, this, boys, SIDNEY DObell MY CHILD. I CANNOT make him dead: His fair sunshiny head Is ever bounding round my study-chair: Yet, when my eyes, now dim With tears, I turn to him, The vision vanishes-he is not there! I walk my parlor floor, And through the open door I hear a footfall on the chamber stair; To give the boy a call; And then bethink me that-he is not there! I thread the crowded street; A satchell'd lad I meet, With the same beaming eyes and color'd hair: Follow him with my eye, I know his face is hid Under the coffin-lid; Closed are his eyes; cold is his forehead fair; O'er it in prayer I knelt; Yet my heart whispers that he is not there! I cannot make him dead! When passing by the bed, So long watch'd over with parental care, Seek it inquiringly, Before the thought comes that he is not there! When, at the cool, gray break Of day, from sleep I wake, |