ANONYMOUS. (Spanish.) My ear-rings my ear-rings!-he'll say they Translation of JOHN GIBSON Lockhart. should have been, Not of pearl and of silver, but of gold and glittering sheen, WATCH SONG. THE SPINNING-WHEEL SONG. MELLOW the moonlight to shine is beginning; Close by the window young Eileen is spinning; Bent o'er the fire, her blind grandmother, sitting, Is croaning, and moaning, and drowsily knitting “Eileen, achora, I hear some one tapping.” "Tis the ivy, dear mother, against the glass flapping." "Eileen, I surely hear somebody sighing." Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring, foot's stirring; Sprightly, and lightly, and airily ringing, Thrills the sweet voice of the young maiden singing. "What's that noise that I hear at the window, I wonder?" "Tis the little birds chirping the holly-bush under." "What makes you be shoving and moving your stool on, And singing all wrong that old song of 'The Coolun?"" There's a form at the casement-the form of her true love And he whispers, with face bent, "I'm waiting for you, love; Get up on the stool, through the lattice step lightly, We'll rove in the grove while the moon's shining brightly." Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring, Swings the wheel, spins the reel, while the foot's stirring; Sprightly, and lightly, and airily ringing, Thrills the sweet voice of the young maiden singing. The maid shakes her head, on her lip lays her fingers, Steals up from her seat-longs to go, and yet lingers; 231 A frightened glance turns to her drowsy grandmother, Puts one foot on the stool, spins the wheel with the other. Lazily, easily, swings now the wheel round; Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel's sound; Noiseless and light to the lattice above her The maid steps-then leaps to the arms of her lover. Slower-and slower-and slower the wheel Lower-and lower-and lower the reel rings; swings; Ere the reel and the wheel stop their ringing and moving, Through the grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving. JOHN FRANCIS WALLER, WATCH SONG. THE sun is gone down, And the moon upward springeth; To give her his greeting? In the garden while roaming: "Ah, watchman!" he said, "Is the daylight fast coming? And may I not see her, And wilt not thou aid me?" "Go, wait in thy covert, Lest the cock crow reveillé, And the dawn should betray thee." Then in went that watchman, And called for the fair; And gently he roused her: "Rise, lady! prepare! New tidings I bring thee, And strange to thine ear; Come, rouse thee up quickly— Thy knight tarries near; It stole aslant the pear-tree bough, O, beauty of my heart! he said, On loveliness like thine? Why should I ever leave this spot, A moment from that bursting thought Long, long the sun had sunken down, Had died away to lines of brown, That gurgled under ground— The stars, like pallid gems at first, Deep in the liquid sky, Now forth upon the darkness burst, Nor more majestic Jove. But what if hearts there beat that night And if two worlds of hidden thought That droop across the stream, And if, when came the parting time, ANONYMOUS JOCK OF HAZELDEAN. "WHY weep ye by the tide, ladye-— Why weep ye by the tide? I'll wed ye to my youngest son, And ye shall be his bride; Sae comely to be seen."— "Now let this wilful grief be done, His sword in battle keen."- "A chain of gold ye shall not lack, Shall ride, our forest queen."— The kirk was decked at morning tide; SIR WALTER SCOTT |