Comes a vapour from the margin, blackening over heath and holt,

Cramming all the blast before it, in its breast a thunderbolt,

Let it fall on Locksley Hall, with rain or hail, or fire cr

snow;

For the mighty wind arises, roaring seaward, and I go.

THE MAY QUEEN.

I.

You must wake and call me early, call me early,

mother dear;

To-morrow 'll be the happiest time of all the glad New

year

Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest, merriest

day;

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

II.

There's many a black, black eye, they say, but none so bright as mine;

There's Margaret and Mary, there's Kate and Caroline;
But none so fair as little Alice in all the land, they say:
So I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen
o' the May.

III.

I sleep so sound all night, mother, that I shall never wake. If you do not call me loud when the day begins to break ;

But I must gather knots of flowers and buds, and garlands

gay;

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen

o' the May.

IV.

As I came up the valley, whom think

ye

should I see,

But Robin leaning on the bridge beneath the nazel-tree? He thought of that sharp look, mother, I gave him yester

day,

But I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

V.

He thought I was a ghost, mother, for I was all in white; And I ran by him without speaking, like a flash of light. They call me cruel-hearted, but I care not what they say, For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

VI.

They say he's dying all for love-but that can never be; They say his heart is breaking, mother—what is that to me? There's many a bolder lad 'll woo me any summer day; And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

VII.

Little Effie shall go with me to-morrow to the green,

And you'll be there, too, mother, to see me made the

Queen;

For the shepherd lads on every side 'll come from far

away,

And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

VIII.

The honeysuckle round the porch has woven its wavy

bowers,

And by the meadow-trenches blow the faint sweet cuckoo

flowers;

And the wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in swamps and hollows gray,

And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

IX.

The night-winds come and go, mother, upon the meadow

grass,

And the happy stars above them seem to brighten as they

pass;

There will not be a drop of rain the whole of the livelong

day,

And I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

X.

All the valley, mother, 'll be fresh and green and still,
And the cowslip and the crowfoot are over all the hill,
And the rivulet in the flowery dale 'll merrily glance and

play,

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

XI.

So you must wake and call me early, call me early, mother

dear,

To-morrow 'll be the happiest time of all the glad New

year:

To-morrow 'll be of all the year the maddest, merriest

day,

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

NEW YEAR'S EVE.

I.

If you're waking, call me early, call me early, mother dear,

For I would see the sun rise upon the glad New-year.

It is the last New-year that I shall ever see—

Then you may lay me low i' the mould, and think no more

of me.

II.

To-night I saw the sun set-he set and left behind

The good old year, the dear old time, and all my peace of mind;

And the New-year's coming up, mother; but I shall never

see

The blossom on the blackthorn, the leaf upon the tree.

III.

Last May we made a crown of flowers; we had a merry

day

Beneath the hawthorn on the green they made me Queen

of May;

And we danced about the May-pole and in the hazel

copse,

Till Charles's Wain came out above the tall white chim

ney-tops.

IV.

There's not a flower on all the hills-the frost is on the

pane;

I only wish to live till the snowdrops come again.

I wish the snow would melt and the sun come out on high— I long to see a flower so before the day I die.

V.

The building rook 'll caw from the windy tall elm-tree,
And the tufted plover pipe along the fallow lea,

And the swallow 'll come back again with summer o'er the wave,

But I shall lie alone, mother, within the mouldering grave.

VI.

Upon the chancel-casement, and upon that grave of mine,
In the early, early morning the summer sun 'll shine,
Before the red cock crows from the farm upon the hill-
When you are warm asleep, mother, and all the world is
still.

VII.

When the flowers come again, mother, beneath the waning

light

You'll never see me more in the long gray fields at night; When from the dry dark wold the summer airs blow cool On the oat-grass and the sword-grass, and the bulrush in the pool.

VIII.

You'll bury me, my mother, just beneath the hawthorn

shade,

And you'll come sometimes and see me where I am lowly

laid.