Riley Love-Lyrics | Page 9

the lift.---
But nae thing brings me you!
Where is it, O my Mary,
Ye are biding a' the while?
I ha' wended
by your window--
I ha' waited by the stile,
An' up an' down the
river
I ha' won for mony a mile,
Yet never found, adrift or drown'd,

Your lang-belated smile.
Is it forgot, my Mary,
How glad we used to be?--
The simmer-time
when bonny bloomed
The auld trysting-tree,--
How there I carved
the name for you,
An' you the name for me;
An' the gloamin'
kenned it only
When we kissed sae tenderly.
Speek ance to me, my Mary!---
But whisper in my ear
As light as
ony sleeper's breath,
An' a' my soul will hear;
My heart shall stap its
beating
An' the soughing atmosphere
Be hushed the while I leaning
smile
An' listen to you, dear!
My Mary, O my Mary!
The blossoms bring the bees;
The sunshine
brings the blossoms,
An' the leaves on a' the trees;
The simmer
brings the sunshine
An' the fragrance o' the breeze,--
But O wi'out
you, Mary,
I care nae thing for these!
[Illustration]
We were sae happy, Mary!
O think how ance we said--
Wad ane o'
us gae fickle,
Or are o' us lie dead,--

To feel anither's kisses
We
wad feign the auld instead,
And ken the ither's footsteps
In the
green grass owerhead.

My Mary, O my Mary!
Are ye daughter o' the air,
That ye vanish
aye before me
As I follow everywhere?--
Or is it ye are only
But
a mortal, wan wi' care?--
Syne I search through a' the kirkyird
An' I
dinna find ye there!
[Illustration]
HOME AT NIGHT
When chirping crickets fainter cry,
And pale stars blossom in the sky,

And twilight's gloom has dimmed the bloom
And blurred the
butterfly:
When locust-blossoms fleck the walk,
And up the tiger-lily stalk

The glow-worm crawls and clings and falls
And glimmers down the
garden-walls:
When buzzing things, with double wings
Of crisp and raspish
flutterings,
Go whizzing by so very nigh
One thinks of fangs and
stings:--
O then, within, is stilled the din
Of crib she rocks the baby in,
And
heart and gate and latch's weight
Are lifted--- and the lips of Kate,
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
WHEN LIDE MARRIED _HIM_
When Lide married _him_--w'y, she had to jes dee-fy
The whole
poppilation!--But she never bat' an eye!
Her parents begged, and
_threatened_--she must give him up--that _he_ Wuz jes "a common
drunkard!"--And he _wuz_, appearantly.--
Swore they'd chase him off the place
Ef he ever showed his face--

Long after she'd _eloped_ with him and _married_ him fer shore!--
When Lide married _him_, it wuz _"Katy, bar the door!"_
When Lide married _him_--Well! she had to go and be
A _hired girl_
in town somewheres--while he tromped round to see What _he_ could
git that _he_ could do,--you might say, jes sawed
wood From door to door!--that's what he done--'cause that wuz best he

could!
And the strangest thing, i jing!
Wuz, he didn't _drink_ a thing,--
But jes got down to bizness, like he someway _wanted_ to, When Lide
married _him_, like they warned her _not_ to do!
When Lide married _him_--er, ruther, _had_ ben married
A little
up'ards of a year--some feller come and carried That _hired girl_ away
with him--a ruther _stylish_ feller In a bran-new green spring-wagon,
with the wheels striped red and

yeller:
And he whispered, as they driv
Tords the country, _"Now we'll live!"_--
And _somepin' else_ she _laughed_ to hear, though
both her eyes wuz