[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]
Woodland Song
Hear how the woodland rings
When the gay warbler sings!
Hark to the swelling note
Bursting its tiny throat!
Live, come live in the woods with me,
Where the songs that start
In the joy-filled heart
Are attuned to its melody!
Lie where the fountain plays!
List to its merry lays!
Kings for a couch as this
Would count e’en thrones amiss!
Live, come live in the woods with me,
Where the waters churn
In their sylvan urn,
And bubble and skip with glee!
Breathe full the scented air,
Laden with nectar rare!
Hunt through the shady wood —
There will ye find your food!
Live, come live in the woods with me,
Where the simple joys
That the time employs
Are lent by sweet Liberty!
See, in their downy bed,
Daisies and violets spread!
Peep in each mossy cave!
See the tall plumes that wave!
Live, come live in the woods with me —
In the moss-grown cell
And the flower-filled dell,
With a bed ’neath the greenwood tree!
Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, pp. 2-3
Editor’s notes:
e’en = (archaic) a contraction of “even”
gay = happy, joyous, carefree (may also mean well-decorated, bright, attractive) (in modern times it may especially refer to a homosexual, especially a male homosexual; may also refer to something which is no good, pathetic, useless)
lay = song, tune; ballad (may also refer to ballads or narrative poems, as sung by medieval minstrels or bards)
list = (archaic) listen
’neath = (vernacular) beneath
sylvan = regarding a wood or forest (although often a reference to something living within a wood, referring to a person, spirit, or tree)
ye = (archaic) you (however, still in use in some places, e.g. in Cornwall, Ireland, Newfoundland, and Northern England; it can used as either the singular or plural form of “you”, although the plural form is apparently the more common usage)
See: 1) “Ye, youse and yiz in Irish English speech”, Sentence first
2) G. M. Story, W. J. Kirwin and J. D. A. Widdowson (editors), “Dictionary of Newfoundland English”, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage
3) Mal Rogers, “13 English words that have a different meaning in Ireland”, The Irish Post, 28 December 2016
4) “The word ye is a valid scrabble word”, 1word
5) “Ye (pronoun)”, Wikipedia
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