Andromeda and Other Poems Part 20

Come hearken, hearken, gentles all, Come hearken unto me, And I'll sing you a song of a Wood-Lyon Came swimming out over the sea.

He ranged west, he ranged east, And far and wide ranged he; He took his bite out of every beast Lives under the greenwood tree.

Then by there came a silly old wolf, 'And I'll serve you,' quoth he; Quoth the Lyon, 'My paw is heavy enough, So what wilt thou do for me?'

Then by there came a cunning old fox, 'And I'll serve you,' quoth he; Quoth the Lyon, 'My wits are sharp enough So what wilt thou do for me?'

Then by there came a white, white dove, Flew off Our Lady's knee; Sang 'It's I will be your true, true love, If you'll be true to me.'

'And what will you do, you bonny white dove?

And what will you do for me?'

'Oh, it's I'll bring you to Our Lady's love, In the ways of chivalrie.'

He followed the dove that Wood-Lyon By mere and wood and wold, Till he is come to a perfect knight, Like the Paladin of old.

He ranged east, he ranged west, And far and wide ranged he-- And ever the dove won him honour and fame In the ways of chivalrie.

Then by there came a foul old sow, Came rookling under the tree; And 'It's I will be true love to you, If you'll be true to me.'

'And what wilt thou do, thou foul old sow?

And what wilt thou do for me?'

'Oh, there hangs in my snout a jewel of gold, And that will I give to thee.'

He took to the sow that Wood-Lyon; To the rookling sow took he; And the dove flew up to Our Lady's bosom; And never again throve he.

Footnotes:

{211} This and the following poem were written at school in early boy-hood.

{216} Lines supposed to be found written in an illuminated missal.

{260} Found among Sandy Mackaye's papers, of a hairy oubit who would not mind his mother.

{282} The Christian Socialist, started by the Council of a.s.sociates for promotion of Co-operation.

{295} Bishop of Labuan, in Borneo.

{303} This Ode was set to Professor Sterndale Bennet's music, and sung in the Senate House, Cambridge, on the Day of Installation.

{306} His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, Chancellor of Cambridge University.

{319} Impromptu lines written in the alb.u.m of the Crown Princess of Germany.

{325} Time of the Franco-Prussian War.

{330} The Qu'est qu'il dit is a Tropical bird.

{331a} This myth about the famous Pitch Lake of Trinidad was told almost word for word to a M. Joseph by an aged half-caste Indian who went by the name of Senor Trinidada. The manners and customs which the ballad described, and the cruel and dangerous destruction of the beautiful birds of Trinidad, are facts which may be easily verified by any one who will take the trouble to visit the West Indies.

{331b} A magnificent wood of the Mauritia Fanpalm, on the south sh.o.r.e of the Pitch Lake.

{331c} Humming-birds.

{331d} Maximiliana palms.

{332} Hut of timber and palm-leaves.

{333} From the Eriodendron, or giant silk-cotton.

{334} Spigelia anthelmia, a too-well-known poison-plant.

{335a} Coelogenys Paca.

{335b} Wild cavy.

{335c} Armadillo.

{335d} Peccary hog.

{335e} Trigonia.

{335f} Penelope.

{335g} Palamedea.

{335h} Dove.

{335i} Mimusops.

{335j} Spondias.

{335k} An esculent Arum.

{335l} Jatropha manihot, 'Ca.s.sava.'

{335m} Vitis Caribaea.

{335n} Euterpe, 'mountain cabbage' palm.

{335o} Mauritia palm.

{336a} Musa.

{336b} Pine-apple.