The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles Vol. 2. Bowles William Lisle

all day by her lone mother's side

      She sat, and oft would turn, a tear to hide.

      Where winds the brook, by yonder bordering wood,

      Her mother's solitary cottage stood:

      A few white pales in front, fenced from the road

      The garden-plot, and poor but neat abode.

      Before the window, 'mid the flowers of spring

      A bee-hive hummed, whose bees were murmuring;

      Beneath an ivied bank, abrupt and high,

      A small clear well reflected bank and sky,

      In whose translucent mirror, smooth and still,

      From time to time, a small bird dipped its bill.

      Here the first bluebell, and, of livelier hue,

      The daffodil and polyanthus grew.

      'Twas Mary's care a jessamine to train.

      With small white blossoms, round the window-pane:

      A rustic wicket opened to the meads,

      Where a scant pathway to the hamlet leads:

      And near, a water-wheel toiled round and round,

      Dashing the o'ershot stream, with long continuous sound.

      Beyond, when the brief shower had sailed away,

      The tapering spire shone out in sunlight gray;

      And o'er that mountain's northern point, to sight

      Stretching far on, the main-sea rolled in light.

      Enter: within, see everything how neat!

      One book lies open on the window-seat,

      The spectacles are on a leaf of Job:

      There, mark, a map of the terrestrial globe;

      And opposite, with its prolific stem,

      The Christian's tree, and New Jerusalem;50

      Here, see a printed paper, to record

      A veritable letter from our Lord:51

      Two books are on the window-ledge beneath, —

      The Book of Prayer, and Drelincourt on Death:

      Some cowslips, in a cup of china placed,

      A painted shelf above the chimney graced:

      Grown like its mistress old, with half-shut eyes,

      Save when, at times, awaked by wandering flies,

      Tib52 in the sunshine of the casement lies.

      'Twas spring time now, with birds the garden rung,

      And Mary's linnet at the window sung.

      Whilst in the air the vernal music floats,

      The cuckoo only joins his two sweet notes:53

      But those – oh! listen, for he sings more near —

      So musical, so mellow, and so clear!

      Not sweeter, where thy mighty waters sweep,

      Missouri, through the night of forests deep,

      Resounds, from glade to glade, from rock to hill,

      While fervent harmonies the wild wood fill,

      The solitary note of "whip-poor-will;"54

      Mary's old mother stops her wheel to say,

      The cuckoo! hark! how sweet he sings to-day!

      It is not long, not long to Whitsuntide,

      And Mary then shall be a happy bride.

      On Sunday morn, when a slant light was flung

      Upon the tower, and the first peal was rung,

      William and Mary smiling would repair,

      Arm linked in arm, to the same house of prayer.

      The bells will sound more merrily, he cried,

      And gently pressed her hand, at Whitsuntide:

      She checked the rising thoughts, and hung her head;

      And Mary, ere one year had passed – was dead!

      'Twas said, and many would the tale believe,

      Her shrouded form was seen upon that eve,55

      When, gliding through the churchyard, they appear —

      They who shall die within the coming year.

      All pale, and strangely piteous, was her look,

      Her right hand was stretched out, and held a book;

      O'er it her wet hair dripped, while the moon cast

      A cold wan light, as in her shroud she passed!

      I cannot say if this were so, but late,

      She went to Madern-stone,56 to learn her fate,

      What there she heard ne'er came to human ears —

      But from that hour she oft was seen in tears.

      Mild zephyr breathes, the butterfly more bright

      Strays, wavering, o'er the pales, in rainbow light;

      The lamb, the colt, the blackbird in the brake,

      Seem all the vernal feeling to partake;

      The lark sings high in air, itself unseen,

      The hasty swallow skims the village-green;

      And all things seem, to the full heart, to bring

      The blissful breathings of the world's first spring.

      How lovely is the sunshine of May-morn!

      The garden bee has wound his earliest horn,

      Busied from flower to flower, as he would say,

      Up! Mary! up this merry morn of May!

      Now lads and lasses of the hamlet bore

      Branches of blossomed thorn or sycamore;57

      And at her mother's porch a garland hung,

      While thus their rural roundelay they sung: —

      And we were up as soon as day,58

      To fetch the summer home,

      The summer and the radiant May,

      For summer now is come.

      In Madern vale the bell-flowers bloom,59

      And wave to Zephyr's breath:

      The cuckoo sings in Morval Coombe,

      Where nods the purple heath.60

      Come, dance around Glen-Aston tree —

      We bring a garland gay,

      And Mary of Guynear shall be

      Our Lady of the May.

      But where is William? Did he not declare,

      He would be first the blossomed bough to bear!

      She will not join the train! and see! the flower

      She gathered now is fading! Hour by hour

      She watched the sunshine on the thatch; again

      Her mother turns the hour-glass; now, the pane

      The westering sun has left – the long May-day

      So

50

Large coloured prints, in most cottages.

51

The letter said to be written by our Saviour to King Agbarus is seen in many cottages.

52

Tib, the cat.

53

The notes of the cuckoo are the only notes, among birds, exactly according to musical scale. The notes are the fifth, and major third, of the diatonic scale.

54

The "whip-poor-will" is a bird so called in America, from his uttering those distinct sounds, at intervals, among the various wild harmonies of the forest. See Bertram's Travels in America.

55

In Cornwall, and in other countries remote from the metropolis, it is a popular belief, that they who are to die in the course of the year appear, on the eve of Midsummer, before the church porch. See an exquisite dramatic sketch on this subject, called "The Eve of St Mark," in Blackwood.

56

Madern-stone, a Druidical monument in the village of Madern, to which the country people often resort, to learn their future destinies.

57

Such is the custom in Cornwall.

58

Polwhele. These are the first four lines of the real song of the season, which is called "The Furry-song of Helstone." Furry is, probably, from Feriæ.

59

Campanula cymbalaria, foliis hederaciis.

60

Erica multiflora, common in this part of Cornwall.