SELECTIONS FROM THE POEMS

OF

MICHAEL DRAYTON.

EDITED BY

A. H. BULLEN.

PRIVATELY PRINTED BY

UNWIN BROTHERS, CHILWORTH.

1883.

'OCT 31 1924

HERTZ

B8

TO DOROTHEA.

DEAR little maid with laughing eyes,

Wistful, wilful, winsome, wise,

Fain would I lightly poetise

In stanzas cheery;

But days are short and nights are long,
And shrill winds pipe a restless song,
Complaining of the wide world's wrong
In accents dreary.

Ah! welladay! the mist and rain
Drive rudely over hill and plain ;
December hurries up amain

With drum and tabor;

And blown to left and blown to right,

Scared birds that cannot keep their flight

Drop, baffled and outwearied quite
By battling labour.

We cannot speed the blust'ring hours,
Or quell the angry Winter's powers,
Or bring the sunshine and the flowers
We love so dearly;

But we can sing and we can play,
And we can make the dullest day
As merry as the lark in May
That carolls clearly.

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