HENRY ALFORD

7ll. The BriJe

DISK,' said the Master, 'come unto the feast.'

• ^ She heard the call and rose with willing feet;

But thinking it not otherwise than meet For such a bidding to put on her best, She is gone from us for a few short hours

Into her bridal closet, there to wait

For the unfolding of the palace gate That gives her entrance to the blissful bowers. We have not seen her yet, though we have been

Full often to her chamber door, and oft Have listened underneath the postern green,

And laid fresh flowers, and whisper'd short and soft. But she hath made no answer, and the day From the clear west is fading fast away.

��SIR SAMUEL FERGUSON 712. Cean T)ubh TteeUsh

��your head, darling, darling, darling,

• Your darling black head my heart above ;

O mouth of honey, with thyme for fragrance,

Who, with heart in breast, could deny you love ?

O many and many a young girl for me is pining,

Letting her locks of gold to the cold wind free, For me, the foremost of our gay young fellows ; But I'd leave a hundred, pure love, for thee ! 7/2. Cean dubh dtclis/i\ darling black head.

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