Edward Thring

“ Hey, the robin, the lark, and the green green grass,
And the ivy that clings to the wall;
Hey, the robin, the lark, and the green green grass,
And the oak, and the ash-tree tall.
Rocking wave, and mountain bold,
Bright air, free to roam,
Say not that our hearts are cold;
Oh! but—home is home.
Hey, the robin, the lark, and the green green grass,
And the ivy that clings to the wall;
Hey, the robin, the lark, and the green green grass,
And the oak, and the ash-tree tall.
Smoothest turf, a sunshine floor,
Dance of cricket ball,
Studies, where we shut the door
On our cosy all. ”

“ Lived more gaily Robin Hood.
East and west, and north and south,
As if we were shot from a cannon’s mouth,
Hurrah, hurrah! here we all are.
Never was heard in peace or war,
The first in the world are we,
Never, oh, never, was heard before,
Since a ball was a ball,
And a wall a wall,
And a boy to play was free,
That a school as old as an old oak-tree,
Fast by the roots, was flung up in the air,
Up in the air without thought or care,
And pitched on its feet by the sea, the sea,
Pitched on its feet by the sea. ”

“ THE PROLOGUE. O swallow, with resistless wing, that hold’st the air in fee,
O swallow, with thy joyous sweep o’er earth and sunlit sea,
O swallow, who, if night were thine, would’st wheel amongst the stars,
Why linger round the eaves?
Unhappy! free of all the world hast knit thy soul to clay? ”