LET the solid ground

Not fail beneath my feet

Before my life has found

What some have found so sweet;

Then let come what come may,

What matter if I go mad,

I shall have had my day.

Let the sweet heavens endure,

Not close and darken above me

Before I am quite quite sure

That there is one to love me; Then let come what come may To a life that has been so sad, I shall have had my day.

'BIRDS IN THE HIGH HALL-GARDEN.'

B

'IRDS in the high Hall-garden

When twilight was falling,

Maud, Maud, Maud, Maud,

They were crying and calling.

Where was Maud? in our wood;

And I, who else, was with her,

Gathering woodland lilies,

Myriads blow together.

I

Birds in our wood sang

Ringing thro' the valleys,

Maud is here, here, here
In among the lilies.

I kiss'd her slender hand,
She took the kiss sedately;

Maud is not seventeen,

But she is tall and stately.

I to cry out on pride

Who have won her favour!

O Maud were sure of Heaven If lowliness could save her.

I know the way she went

Home with her maiden posy,

For her feet have touch'd the meadows

And left the daisies rosy.

Birds in the high Hall-garden
Were crying and calling to her,
Where is Maud, Maud, Maud?

One is come to woo her.

Look, a horse at the door,

And little King Charlie snarling, Go back, my lord, across the moor,

You are not her darling.