'MdiMmM-.'.-"'^-: ■•^K/rf///; i kVi-Vv-xViw;* 'JP>!i'\)fa.'*\::A ■*(rt«06ii « V----.:-- ■■-■■■ -^ .,...,. .,>„..-v.,^,,<^, ■ %'^> W^'iff 8 /!(/«*'3( jjl ^m^ i up V V: 1 A J »»,}«» O } >^ i Lvi.vA.J .'/^.^«^>J ''>«vri«k.;l iVv,VJi,/.4 -.v./'.-J ■(-,■,:/«<.;. J &/.fv<*Ji««a ! % M^ ■■'A •» THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES » -4 " O moi'n ! in the night I hiiTf seen you siii/ing Ami shining so ro/imi and lo7v.'' V- -^ University Press : Welch, Bigelow, S: Co., Cambridge. ^- -^ SONGS OF SEVEN. BY JEAN INGELOW, BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1866. 9^ * *" ■9 pp. A17 «^^V51/- CONTENTS, Seven Times One : Exultation . Seven Times Two : Romanck . Seven Times Three : Love . Seven Times Four': Maternity Seven Times Five : Widowhood , Seven Times Six : (Giving in Marriage . Seven Times Seven : Longing for Home Page I 5 9 ^3 i6 20 24 *— 762986 -* ^ -4 SONGS OF SEVEN. Seven times One. EXULTATION. T HERE 'S no dew left on the daisies and clover, There's no rain left in heaven: I've said my "seven times" over and over, Seven times one are seven. *■ -« * * Songs of Seven. I am old, so old, I can write a letter ; My birthday lessons are done ; The lambs play always, they know no better ; They are only one times one. O moon ! in the night I have seen you sailing And shining so round and low ; You were bright! ah bright! but your light is failing,- You are nothing now but a bow. You moon, have you done something wrong in heaven That God has hidden your face .'' I hope if you have you will soon be forgiven. And shine again in your place. O velvet bee, you 're a dusty fellow. You 've powdered your legs with gold ! O brave marsh marybuds, rich and yellow, Give me your money to hold ! l|l * •9 The lambs play ahuays, tlwy knmu no better ; They are only one times one." m — * *■ * Songs of Seveji. O columbine, open your folded wrapper, Where two t\\ in turtle-doves dwell ! O cuckoo))int, toll nie the purple clapper That hani^^s in your clear green bell ! And show me your nest with the young ones in it ; I will not steal them awa)' ; I. am old! you may trust me, linnet, linnet, — I am seven times one to-day. 4 -V *• -IS Seven times Tzvo. ROMANCE. Y OU bells in the steeple, ring, ring out your changes. How many soever they be, And let the brown meadow-lark's note as he ranges Come over, come over to me. «■ m Ifh * Sofij^s of Seven. Yet bird's clearest carol by fall or by swelling No magical sense conveys, And bells have forgotten their old art of telling The fortune of future days. " Turn again, turn again," once they rang cheerily, While a boy listened alone ; Made his heart yearn again, musing so wearily All by himself on a stone. Poor bells ! I forgive you ; your good days are over. And mine, they are yet to be ; No listening, no longing shall aught, aught discover : You leave the story to me. The foxglove shoots out of the green matted heather, Preparing her hoods ot snow ; She was idle, and sleiH till the sunshin\- ^\eather : O, children take long to grow ! 6 •i^ * *■ -« '/ wait for my story — the birds cannot^ sing it. Not one, as he sits on the tree." V- -« 1^ ■9 So/ios of Seven. I wish, and I wish that the spriiii^ would go faster, Nor long summer bide so late ; And I could grow on like the foxglove and aster, For some things are ill to wait. I wait for the day when dear hearts shall discover. While dear hands are laid on my head, *' The child is a woman, the book may close over. For all the lessons are said." I wait for my story — the birds cannot sing it. Not one, as he sits on the tree ; The bells cannot ring it, but long years, O bring it ! Such as I wish it to be. m -V 9' 1 Seven times Three. LOVE. T LEANED out of window, I smelt the white clover, -*- Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate ; " Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover — Hush, nightingale, hush ! O. sweet nightingale, wait Till I listen and hear If a step draweth near, For my love he is late ! 9 n^ rk^ >.& Songs of Seven. " The skies in the darkness stoop nearer and nearer, A cluster of stars hangs Hke fruit in the tree, The fall of the water comes sweeter, comes clearer : To what art thou listening, and what dost thou see ? Let the star-clusters grow, Let the sweet waters flow, And cross quickly to me. " You night moths that hover where honey brims over From sycamore blossoms, or settle or sleep ; You glowworms, shine out, and the pathway discover To him that comes darkling along the rough steep. Ah, my sailor, make haste, For the time runs to waste. And my love lieth deep — Too deep for swift telling ; and yet, my one lover. I've conned thee an answer, it waits thee to-night." lO m ■ * *■ ■* / h-niied out of vihi/imii, T smelt the while clcnier, Dark, dark was Ihe g^arden, I saw ttol l/ie gale. n^- % * -9 S 071 OS of Seven. B)- the sycamore passed he, and through the white clover, Then all the sweet speech I had fashioned took flight ; But I '11 love him more, more Than e'er wife loved before, Be the days dark or bright. 12 m- — * *■ -# Seven times Four M A T E R N I 1" Y H EIGH-HO! daisies and buttercups, Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall ! When the wind wak-es how they rock in the grasses, And dance with the cuckoo-buds slender and small ! Here 's two bonny boys, and here 's mother's own lasses, Eager to gather them all. 13 ^- ft 9- "Mother shall thre.xii them a daisy ehaiii ; Sing them n sr»i«; of the pretty heds^e sfxrrrmu." ^ * * ^* So7igs of Seven. Heigh-ho ! daisies and buttercups ! Mother shall thread them a daisy chain ; Sing them a song of the pretty hedge-sparrow, That loved her brown little ones, loved them full fain ; Sing, "Heart, thou art wide though the house be but narrow," — Sing once, and sing it again. Heigh-ho ! daisies and buttercups. Sweet wagging cowslips, they bend and they bow ; A ship sails afar over warm ocean waters, And haply one musing doth stand at her prow. O bonny brown sons, and O sweet little daughters. Maybe he thinks on you now ! Heigh-ho ! daisies and buttercups, Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall ! A sunshiny world full of laughter and leisure. And fresh hearts unconscious of sorrow and thrall ! Send down on their pleasure smiles passing its measure, God that is ov'er us all ! 15 ^ -^ * *■ ■9 Seven times Five. WIDOWHOOD. I SLEEP and rest, mv heart makes moan Before I am well awake ; " Let me bleed ! O let me alone, Since I must not break ! " i6 «- m * * Songs of Seven. For children wake, though fathers sleep With a stone at foot and at head : O sleepless God, forever keep. Keep both living and dead ! I lift mnie eyes, and what to see But a world happy and fair ! I have not wished it to mourn with me, Comfort is not there. O what anear but golden brooms, And a waste of reedy rills ! O what afar but the fine glooms On the rare blue hills ! I shall not die, but live forlore — How bitter it is to part ! O to meet thee, my love, once more ! O my heart, my heart ! 17 * — — * *- M* M^* '(' 7v/inl anear but g^oldfii bronins, A nd n 7t'nstr of ready rills I " ^- -« *■ -^ Songs of Seven. No more to' hear, no more to see ! that an echo might wake And waft one note of thy psahii to me Ere my heart-strings break ! I should know it how faint soe'er, And with angel voices blent ; O once to feel thy spirit anear, 1 could be content ! Or once between the gates of gold, While an angel entering trod, But once — thee sitting to behold On the hills of God ! 19 V- # *■ * Seven times Six. GIVING IN MARRIAGE. '' I ^O bear, to nurse, to rear, -*■ To watch, and then to lose To see my bright ones disappear, Drawn up like morning dews ; - To bear, to nurse, to rear, To watch, and then to lose : 20 n^- -^ * * Songs of Seven. This have I done when God drew near Among his own to choose. To hear, to heed, to wed, And with thy lord depart In tears that he, as soon as shed, Will let no longer smart. — To hear, to heed, to wed. This while thou didst I smiled, For now it was not God who said, " Mother, give ME thy child." O fond, O fool, and blind. To God I gave with tears ; But when a man likx- grace would find. My soul i)ut by her fears. O lond, (3 fool, and blind, God guards in happier spheres ; That man will guard where he did bind Is li()[)e for unknown )-ears. 21 it — * *■ ■« ■^1-ils FTv- ^^^^^_=^ To hear, to /iced, to ivcd, A)id with thy lord depart.'" «- *■ ■* Songs of Seven. To hear, to heed, to wed, Fair lot that maidens choose, Thy mother's tenderest words are said. Thy face no more she views ; Thy mother's lot, my dear, She doth in naught accuse ; Her lot to bear, to nurse, to rear, To love — and then to lose. 23 »- % -9 A Seveit times Seven LONGING FOR HOME. I. SONG of a boat : — There was once a boat on a billow : Lightly she rocked to her port remote, And the foam was white in her wake like snow, And her frail mast bowed when the breeze would blow, And bent like a wand of willow. 24 m •^ * * Songs of Seven. II. I shaded mine eyes one day when a boat Went curtseying over the billow, I marked her course till a dancing mote She faded out on the moonlit foam, And I stayed behind in the dear loved home ; And my thoughts all day were about the boat, And my dreams upon the pillow. III. I pray you hear my song of a boat. For it is but short : — My boat, you shall find none fairer afloat, In river or port. Long I looked out for the lad she bore. On the open desolate sea. And I think he sailed to the heavenly shore, I'V^r he came not back to me — Ah me ! 25 ^ lii 9^ "* Tltere is the hoiitr ivhere my t/ioiigliis arc sriit, TIic only huiiic for ine — . A h inc : " «■ -V * ' * Songs of Seven. IV. A song of a nest : — There was once a nest in a hollow : Down in the mosses and knot-grass pressed, Soft and warm, and full to the brim. Vetches leaned over it purple and dim, With buttercup buds to follow. I pray you hear my song of a nest, For it is not long: — You shall never light, in a summer quest The bushes among — Shall never light on a prouder sitter, A fairer ncstful, nor ever know A softer sound than their tender twitter. That wind-like did come and go. 27 m — * * Ifl Songs of Seven. VI. I had a nestful once of my own, Ah happy, happy I ! Right dearly I levied them : but when they were grown They spread out their wings to fly. O, one after one they flew away Far up to the heavenly blue, To the better country, the upper day, And — I wish I was going too. VII. I pray you, what is the nest to me. My empty nest .'' And what is the shore where I stood to see My boat sail down to the west .'' Can I call that home where I anchor yet, Though my good man has sailed .^ Can I call that home where my nest was set, Now all its hope hath failed .'' 28 * )« 9*r * Songs of Seven. Nay, but the port where my sailor went, And the land where my nestlings be : There is the home where my thoughts are sent, The only home for me — Ah me n^ -m UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. I 1980 Form L9-100m-9,'52(A3105)444 A17 '^^ii--,o ui. ijeven. 18 66 PR U819 A17 1366 \f^ lllllilllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllll: ^ 3 1158 00655 03 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 369 801 6