Jean Ingelow Poems

Old Albion sat on a crag of late,
And sung out—'Ahoy! ahoy!
Long life to the captain, good luck to the mate,
And this to my sailor boy
...

Subject given—'Light and Shade.'

She stepped upon Sicilian grass,
Demeter's daughter fresh and fair,
...

I took a year out of my life and story—
A dead year, and said, 'I will hew thee a tomb!
'All the kings of the nations lie in glory;'
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One morning, oh! so early, my beloved, my beloved,
All the birds were singing blithely, as if never they would cease;
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Haply some Rajah first in ages gone
Amid his languid ladies finger'd thee,
While a black nightingale, sun-swart as he,
Sang his one wife, love's passionate orison:
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Living child or pictured cherub
Ne'er o'ermatched its baby grace;
And the mother, moving nearer,
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While ripening corn grew thick and deep,
And here and there men stood to reap,
One morn I put my heart to sleep,
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Come up the broad river, the Thames, my Dane,
My Dane with the beautiful eyes!
Thousands and thousands await thee full fain,
And talk of the wind and the skies.
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When sparrows build, and the leaves break forth,
My old sorrow wakes and cries,
For I know there is dawn in the far, far north,
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The old mayor climbed the belfry tower,
The ringers ran by two, by three;
'Pull, if ye never pulled before;
...