The hound had but a
churlish
wit.
Sidney Lanier
The sun has burnt the rose-red sea:
The rose is turned to ashes gray.
O Sea, O Sea, mightst thou but be
The violet thou hast been to-day!
The sun is brave, the sun is bright,
The sun is lord of love and light;
But after him it cometh night.
Dim anguish of the lonesome dark! --
Once a girl's body, stiff and stark,
Was laid in a tomb without a mark,
Ah me!
____
Macon, Georgia, 1868.
Song for "The Jacquerie".
The hound was cuffed, the hound was kicked,
O' the ears was cropped, o' the tail was nicked,
(All. ) Oo-hoo-o, howled the hound.
The hound into his kennel crept;
He rarely wept, he never slept.
His mouth he always open kept
Licking his bitter wound,
The hound,
(All. ) U-lu-lo, HOWLED THE HOUND.
A star upon his kennel shone
That showed the hound a meat-bare bone.
(All. ) O hungry was the hound!
The hound had but a churlish wit.
He seized the bone, he crunched, he bit.
"An thou wert Master, I had slit
Thy throat with a huge wound,"
Quo' hound.
(All. ) O, angry was the hound.
The star in castle-window shone,
The Master lay abed, alone.
(All. ) Oh ho, why not? quo' hound.
He leapt, he seized the throat, he tore
The Master, head from neck, to floor,
And rolled the head i' the kennel door,
And fled and salved his wound,
Good hound!
(All. ) U-lu-lo, HOWLED THE HOUND.
____
Macon, Georgia, 1868.
The Golden Wedding of Sterling and Sarah Lanier, September 27, 1868.
By the Eldest Grandson.
A rainbow span of fifty years,
Painted upon a cloud of tears,
In blue for hopes and red for fears,
Finds end in a golden hour to-day.
