Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, "CORYDON'S FAREWELL, ON SAILING IN THE LATE EXPEDITION FLEET", by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

"CORYDON'S FAREWELL, ON SAILING IN THE LATE EXPEDITION FLEET", by                    
First Line: "farewell, the bell upon a ram's neck hung"
Last Line: "the homefelt joys, beyond expression dear, / deserve an elegy, a parting tear"
Subject(s): Farewell; Parting


Farewell, the bell upon a ram's neck hung,
Farewell, the rustic song by shepherd sung;
Farewell, the hungry falcon's cat-like note,
As down the glade he stoops for mouse or stoat;
Farewell, the fearful lapwing's chiding quest,
When Rover ranges near, too near, her nest;
Farewell, the jetty raven's scornful scoff,
Who, proud, to prouder man cries out "off, off',
So fancy forms his ill-betiding croak;
And thou, farewell, that from the hollow oak,
The bird of wisdom cleped, does send around
Thy man-like halloos hunters to confound.
Embowered in birchen groves, thou wooing dove,
Emblem of spotless innocence and love,
Farewell: O say! with thy companion sat,
How oft thou'st seen me with as fair a mate.
Farewell, the busy hum of bees that bring
Extracted honey from the pride of spring;
No more your toil shall Corydon molest
When buzzing near my Cloe's tender breast,
Whether to sting her was your sad intent,
Or whether sweets to steal was all ye meant.
Farewell, each hill, each dale, each conscious grove,
Adieu, each witness of my constant love.
Farewell, of distant bells the liquid sound,
That, while I lay stretched careless on the ground,
Would softly undulate along the glade,
And bring such news as pleasing fancy made:
Haply a wedding, or an heir, maybe,
Or glorious vict'ry gained by land and sea;
For joy the very fairies dance and sing,
And leave their footsteps in a verdant ring.
The bells, in triple cadence other times,
At matins please the ear in softer chimes:
When good old dowager, oppressed with cares,
Or maiden aunt with Jacky steals to pray'rs.
The evening knell reminds us of our folly,
And substitutes a pleasing melancholy.
Farewell, the lonely cot in neatness dressed,
Which neighb'ring squire does annually invest
With decent livery of purest white,
A pleasing object to allure the sight;
Fixed near a spacious wood of aged oak,
Which shows the chimney's noonday azure smoke,
Near it a limpid stream for ever flows,
Where linen-suited Sal for water goes,
To boil her cates or wash her cotton hose;
A neatcut hedge that can with tulips vie,
Where Sally hangs her favours out to dry.
Farewell, the woodman's "hem' at ev'ry stroke,
Who hems, and inter-whistles Hearts of Oak.
The sawyers working in the inmost wood
Attentive hear the tune and think it good:
They make their motions with the measure chime,
All arms now rise and fall in perfect time.
Their boys around, blest pledges! play their pranks,
Some houses build with chips, some swing on planks.
The tender, watchful mother sits hard by,
Knitting, awhile the girls raise up dirt-pie.
O happy presage of their future lives,
Useful in arts the boys, the girls domestic wives.
Farewell, each thing, each place I fondly know:
To distant climes poor Corydon must go;
The homefelt joys, beyond expression dear,
Deserve an elegy, a parting tear.






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