MYFANWY

Richard Davies 1833-77

Why is it anger, O Myfanwy,

That fills your eyes so dark and clear?

Your gentle cheeks, O sweet Myfanwy,

Why blush they not when I draw near?

Where is the smile that once most tender

Kindled my love so fond, so true?

Where is the sound of your sweet words,

That drew my heart to follow you?

What have I done, O my Myfanwy,

To earn your frown? What is my blame?

Was it just play, my sweet Myfanwy,

To set your poet's love aflame?

You truly once to me were promised,

Is it too much to keep your part?

I wish no more your hand, Myfanwy,

If I no longer have your heart.

Myfanwy, may you spend your lifetime

Beneath the midday sunshine's glow,

And on your cheeks O may the roses

Dance for a hundred years or so.

Forget now all the words of promise

You made to one who loved you well,

Give me your hand, my sweet Myfanwy,

But one last time, to say "farewell."

-o0o-

BALLADE OF AUTUMN
Andrew Lang 1844-1912

We built a castle in the air,
In summer weather, you and I,
The wind and sun were in your hair,
Gold hair against a sapphire sky:
When autumn came, with leaves that fly
Before the storm, across the plain,
You fled from me, with scarce a sigh,
My Love returns no more again!

The windy lights of autumn flare:
I watch the moonlit sails go by;
I marvel how men toil and fare,
The weary business that they ply!
Their voyaging is vanity,
And fairy gold is all their gain,
And all the winds of winter cry,
"My Love returns no more again!"

Here, in my Castle of Despair,
I sit alone with memory;
The wind-fed wolf has left his lair,
To keep the outcast company.
The brooding owl he hoots hard by,
The hare shall kindle on thy hearth-stane,
The Rhymer's soothest prophecy,
My Love returns no more again!

-o0o-

IT COULDN'T BE DONE
Edgar A. Guest 1881-1959

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that -
At least no one ever has done it."
But he took off his coat and took off his hat
And the first thing he knew he'd begun it.

With the lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin,
Then take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That cannot be done, and you'll do it.

-o0o-

I'M NOBODY! WHO ARE YOU?
Emily Dickinson 1830-86

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

-o0o-

FAIRIES FANCIES AND FANTASIES will be updated tomorrow
http://fairiesfanciesandfantasies.blogspot.com

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