46 ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS

The Idle Singer of an Empty Day

Heaven or Hell I have no power to sing :

o

_ I cannot ease the burden of your fears,
Or make quick-coming death a little thing,

Or bring again the pleasure of past years ;

Nor for my words shall ye forget your tears,
Nor hope again for aught that 1 can say,
The idle singer of an empty day;
But rather, when a- weary of your mirth,

From full hearts still unsatisfied ye sigh,
And, feeling kindly unto all the earth,

Grudge every minute as it passes by,

Made the more mindful that the sweet days lie— -
Remember me a little then 1 pray,
The idle singer of an empty day.

The verse with which William Morris
leads -us on to Ms Earthly Paradise

The Undiscovered Ocean

I SEEM to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and
diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a
prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all
undiscovered before me. Sir Isaac

Joyce Kilmer to a Very Beautiful Ladye
ip ROM what old ballad or from what rich frame
J7 Did you descend to glorify the Earth ?
Was it from Chaucer's singing book you came ?
Or did Watteau's small brushes give you birth ?
Nothing so exquisite as that slight hand
Could Raphael or Leonardo trace ;
Nor could the poets know in Fairyland
The changing wonder of your lyric face,
I would possess a host of lovely things,
But I am poor and such joys may not be ;
So God Who lifts the poor and humble kings
Sent loveliness itself to dwell with me.
Written by Joyce Kilmer for Aline his wife
I Eat My Peas With Honey
I EAT my peas with honey ;
I Ve done it all my life :
It makes the peas taste fumy,
But keeps them on the knife.
Rhyme by a Writer Unknown