Joseph Rodman Drake

I sat me down upon a green bank-side, Skirting the smooth edge of a gentle river, Whose waters seemed unwillingly to glide,

It is a summer evening, calm and fair, A warm, yet freshening glow is in the air; Along its bank, the cool stream wanders slow,

I. Tuscara! thou art lovely now, Thy woods, that frown'd in sullen strength

See through yon cloud that rolls in wrath, One little star benignant peep, To light along their trackless path

Yes! heaven protect thee, thou gem of the ocean; Dear land of my sires, though distant thy shores; Ere my heart cease to love thee, its latest emotion,

Whene'er thy wandering footstep bends Its pathway to the Hermit tree, Among its cordial band of friends,

Day gradual fades, in evening gray, Its last faint beam hath fled, And sinks the sun's declining ray

I. Roar, raging torrent! and thou, mighty river, Pour thy white foam on the valley below;

Oh the tear is in my eye, and my heart it is breaking, Thou hast fled from me, Connor, and left me forsaken; Bright and warm was our morning, but soon has it faded,

Oh! go to sleep, my baby dear, And I will hold thee on my knee; Thy mother's in her winding sheet,

I. When Freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air,

"My visual orbs are purged from film, and lo! "Instead of Anster's turnip-bearing vales "I see old fairy land's miraculous show!

When that eye of light shall in darkness fall, And thy bosom be shrouded in death's cold pall, When the bloom of that rich red lip shall fade,

"You damn me with faint praise." I. Yes, faint was my applause and cold my praise,

Though fate upon this faded flower His withering hand has laid, Its odour'd breath defies his power,

A beam upon the myrtle fell From dewy evening's purest sky, 'Twas like the glance I love so well,

I. One happy year has fled, Sall, Since you were all my own,

Grant me, I cried, some spell of art, To turn with all a lover's care, That spotless page, my Eva's heart,