Lady Clara Vere de Vere,

There stands a spectre in

your

hall:

The guilt of blood is at your door:
You changed a wholesome heart to gall.
You held your course without remorse,

To make him trust his modest worth,
And, last, you fixed a vacant stare,
And slew him with your noble birth.

Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere,

From yon blue heavens above us bent The grand old gardener and his wife Smile at the claims of long descent.

Howe'er it be, it seems to me,

'Tis only noble to be good.

Kind hearts are more than coronets,

And simple faith than Norman blood.

I know

you, Clara Vere de Vere:

You pine among your halls and towers,
The languid light of your proud eyes
Is wearied of the rolling hours.

In glowing health, with boundless wealth,
But sickening of a vague disease,

You know so ill to deal with time,

You needs must play such pranks as these

Clara, Clara Vere de Vere,

If Time be heavy on your hands, Are there no beggars at your gate, Nor any poor about your lands? O! teach the orphan-boy to read,

Or teach the orphan-girl to sew, Pray Heaven for a human heart,

And let the foolish yeoman go.

THE MAY QUEEN.

I.

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

dear;

To-morrow 'ill 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

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 hazel-tree? He thought of that sharp look, mother, I gave him.

yesterday,

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 'ill 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 I'll be there, too, mother, to see me made the

Queen :

For the shepherd lads on every side 'ill 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.