338 And all night they hunted, One said it was the moon, The third said it was a cheese, 3 There was an old woman, as I've heard tell, There came by a pedlar whose name was Stout, He cut her petticoats all round about ; He cut her petticoats up to the knees, Which made the old woman to shiver and freeze. When this little woman first did wake, She began to shiver and she began to shake. 'But if it be I, as I do hope it be, I've a little dog at home, and he'll know me ; And if it be not I, he'll loudly bark and wail!' Home went the little woman all in the dark, 4 If all the world was apple-pie, And all the sea was ink, And all the trees were bread and cheese, 5 There was a little boy and a little girl Lived in an alley; Says the little boy to the little girl, 'Shall I, oh! shall I ?' Says the little girl to the little boy, Says the little boy to the little girl, CLXXI THE AGE OF CHILDREN HAPPIEST if they had still wit to understand it Laid in my quiet bed in study as I were I saw within my troubled head a heap of thoughts appear, And every thought did show so lively in mine eyes, That now I sigh'd, and then I smiled, as cause of thoughts did rise I saw the little boy, in thought how oft that he Did wish of God, to 'scape the rod, a tall young man to be, The young man eke that feels his bones with pain opprest, How he would be a rich old man, to live and lie at rest! The rich old man that sees his end draw on so sore, How would he be a boy again to live so much the more. Whereat full oft I smiled, to see how all those three, From boy to man, from man to boy, would chop and change degree. Earl of Surrey CLXXII THE NOBLE NATURE It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be ; Or standing long an oak three hundred year, Is fairer far in May, Although it fall and die that night— B. Jonson CLXXIII THE RAINBOW My heart leaps up when I behold So was it when my life began ; Or let me die! The child is father of the man ; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. W. Wordsworth |