AND OLD YEAR SONG.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 238, 21 January 1888, Page 2

AND OLD YEAR SONG.

As through the forest, disarrayed By chill November, lato I stra/od. A lonely minstrel of the wood Was singing to the solitude ; jt Mgjtod thK&msio, thus I #xi&,J& WBon oJfijSi ffl^perch the leoropwerc spread ; 4^Tm qpfl onafe iicS,f less bMlf | hi < \\ p4 Pn#littie^dMynoto^alrch««r f 1 -*; y Sh^Badnesl^f^ dying pa¥| |j £, f < WJontyioletsiprahKed the Mrf pi tlisblue ' , -U AM mbcning'Bllfid their oup6 H with^ow,' Thy slender voi^e with rippling trill N Tho budding April bowers would fill, Nor passed its joyous tonos away When April rounded into May. Thy life shall hail no seoond dawnSing, littlejbjrdj _tUe spring.is gone.* » ~ — And. I remember welba-day. Thy full-blown snmmor roundelay, As when behind a broidered screen IMH Somoholy-maidenffsinp;s:un"seenY With answering notes the woodland rung And every. tre^top/Ound a tongue. How 1 de_ep!tho sha'^o, tjho groves how fair ! Sing', little bird ! Clio woods are baro. Tho summer's throbbing chant is done And mute tho choral antiphon ; ; The'birds have left tho shivering pinc3 To flit among tho trellisod vines, Or fan tho air witftscpntqd plumes , , , ' Amid the )6ve : sicK orange blooms, And thou art here alone— alono ; : Sing, little bird tho rest have flown. ( Tho snow has capped yon distant Mil, < / At morn the runtime brook was still. * , From drivpnlierds tlio clouds that riBQ.' / < Arc like the smoke o t f sacrifice; / , ;Ere long the frozbn sod shall mobk ' 7 ' Tho ploughshare, changed to stubbornrqcK ; The brawling stroams shall soon be AumDrSing, little bird ! tho frost have coma. Fast,- fast; the longthcninpf shadbwg (feep, , Tho Bongless fowl? are half asleop, < ' Tho air grows chill, tho sotting sun / May leave theo ere thy song is done/ ' Tho pulse that warms thy breast grov cold, Thy secrettfie with thee untold ; , Tho lingering sunsat still is brightfSing, little bird ! 'twill soon be nteit." . -Oliver Wendell Holmes in the "80/ ton Transcript." ' ' ' " '