Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.

The Lover’s Song

Alfred Austin (1835–1913)

WHEN Winter hoar no longer holds

The young year in his gripe,

And bleating voices fill the folds,

And blackbirds pair and pipe;

Then coax the maiden where the sap

Awakes the woodlands drear,

And pour sweet wildflowers in her lap,

And sweet words in her ear.

For Springtime is the season, sure,

Since Love’s game first was play’d,

When tender thoughts began to lure

The heart of April maid,

Of maid,

The heart of April maid.

When June is wreath’d with wilding rose,

And all the buds are blown,

And O, ’tis joy to dream and doze

In meadows newly mown;

Then take her where the graylings leap,

And where the dabchick dives,

Or where the bees in clover reap

The harvest for their hives.

For Summer is the season when,

If you but know the way,

The maid that ’s kiss’d will kiss again,

Then pelt you with the hay,

The hay,

Then pelt you with the hay.

When sickles ply among the wheat,

Then trundle home the sheaves,

And there ’s a rustling of the feet

Thro’ early-fallen leaves;

Entice her where the orchard glows

With apples plump and tart,

And tell her plain the thing she knows,

And ask her for her heart.

For Autumn is the season, boy,

To gather what we sow;

If you be bold, she won’t be coy,

Nor ever say you no,

Say no,

Nor ever say you no.

When woodmen clear the coppice lands,

And arch the hornbeam drive,

And stamp their feet, and chafe their hands,

To keep their blood alive;

Then lead her where, where vows are heard,

The church-bells peal and swing,

And, as the parson speaks the word,

Then on her clap the ring.

For Winter is a cheerless time

To live and lie alone;

But what to him is snow or rime

Who calls his love his own,

His own,

Who calls his love his own?