Poems (Piatt)/Volume 2/The Little Cowherd
THE LITTLE COWHERD.
"Come, look at her and you will love her.
Go, lead her now through pleasant places,
And teach her that our New-World's clover
Is sweet as Jersey Island daisies.
Go, lead her now through pleasant places,
And teach her that our New-World's clover
Is sweet as Jersey Island daisies.
"Yes, you may do a little playing
Close to the gate, my pretty warder;
But, meanwhile, keep your cow from straying
Across the elfin people's border."
Close to the gate, my pretty warder;
But, meanwhile, keep your cow from straying
Across the elfin people's border."
So to the boy his mother jested
About his light task, lightly heeding,
While in the flowering grass he rested
The magic book that he was reading.
About his light task, lightly heeding,
While in the flowering grass he rested
The magic book that he was reading.
At sundown for the cow's returning
The milkmaid waited long, I'm thinking.
Hours later, by the moon's weird burning,
Did fairy-folk have cream for drinking?
The milkmaid waited long, I'm thinking.
Hours later, by the moon's weird burning,
Did fairy-folk have cream for drinking?
. . . What of the boy? By hill and hollow,
Through bloom and brier, till twilight ended,
His book had charmed him on to follow
The cow—the one that Cadmus tended!
Through bloom and brier, till twilight ended,
His book had charmed him on to follow
The cow—the one that Cadmus tended!