  A ROYAL RACEAMONG the fine old kings that reign Upon a simple wooden throne, There's one with but a small domain, Yet, mark you, it is all his own. And though upon his rustic towers No ancient standard waves its wing, Thick leafy banners, flushed with flowers, From all the fragrant casements swing. And here, in royal homespun, bow His nut-brown court, at night and morn,— The bronzed Field-Marshal of the Plough, The Chancellor of the Wheat and Corn, The Keeper of the Golden Stacks, The Mistress of the Milking-Pail, The bold Knights of the Ringing-Axe, The Heralds of the Sounding Flail, The Ladies of the New-Mown Hay, The Master of the Spade and Hoe, The Minstrels of the Glorious Lay That all the Sons of Freedom know. And thus, while on the seasons roll, He wins from the inspiring sod The brawny arm and noble soul That serve his country and his God. WITH folded wings of dusky light Upon the purple hills she stands, An angel between day and night, With tinted shadows in her hands— Till suddenly transfigured there, With all her dazzling plumes unfurled, She climbs the crimson-flooded air, And flies in glory o'er the world. THERE'S a little gray friar in yonder green bush, Clothed in sackcloth—a little gray friar Like a druid of old in his temple—but hush! He's at vespers; you must not go nigher. Yet, the rogue! can those strains be addressed to the skies, And around us so wantonly float, Till the glowing refrain like a shining thread flies From the silvery reel of his throat? When he roams, though he stains not his path through the air With the splendor of tropical wings, All the lustre denied to his russet plumes there Flashes forth through his lay when he sings; For the little gray friar is so wondrous wise, Though in such a plain garb he appears, That on finding he can't reach your soul through your eyes, He steals in through the gates of your ears. But the cheat!—'tis not heaven he's warbling about— Other passions, less holy, betide— For, behold, there's a little gray nun peeping out From a bunch of green leaves at his side. |
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