Songs from Zapolya

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Song

(Act II, Scene I, lines 65-80)

A sunny shaft did I behold,
    From sky to earth it slanted :
And poised therein a bird so bold--
    Sweet bird, thou wert enchanted !

He sank, he rose, he twinkled, he trolled
    Within that shaft of sunny mist ;
His eyes of fire, his beak of gold,
    All else of amethyst !
And thus he sang : `Adieu ! adieu !
Love's dreams prove seldom true.
The blossoms they make no delay :
The sparkling dew-drops will not stay.
    Sweet month of May,
             We must away ;
                     Far, far away !
                           To-day ! to-day !'

Hunting Song

(Act IV, Scene II, lines 56-71)

Up, up ! ye dames, ye lasses gay !
To the meadows trip away.
'Tis you must tend the flocks this morn,
And scare the small birds from the corn.
    Not a soul at home may stay :
             For the shepherds must go
             With lance and bow
    To hunt the wolf in the woods to-day.
Leave the hearth and leave the house
To the cricket and the mouse :
Find grannam out a sunny seat,
With babe and lambkin at her feet.
    Not a soul at home must stay :
            For the shepherds must go
             With lance and bow
    To hunt the wolf in the woods to-day.