John kept himsel' wi' mistened leather

An' kindled spunk.
Wi' him, there was nae askin' whether -

John was aye drunk.
The auncient heroes gash an' bauld

In the uncanny days of auld,
The task ance fo(u)nd to which th'were called,

Stack stenchly to it.
His life sic noble lives recalled,

Little's he knew it.
Single an' straucht, he went his way.

He kept the faith an' played the play.
Whusky an' he were man an' may

Whate'er betided.
Bonny in life - in death - this twae

Were no' divided.
An' wow! but John was unco sport.

Whiles he wad smile about the Court
Malvolio-like - whiles snore an' snort

Was heard afar.
The idle winter lads' resort

Was aye John's bar.
What's merely humorous or bonny

The Worl' regairds wi' cauld astony.
Drunk men tak' aye mair place than ony;

An' sae, ye see,
The gate was aye ower thrang for Johnie -

Or you an' me.
John micht hae jingled cap an' bells,

Been a braw fule in silks an' pells,
In ane o' the auld worl's canty hells

Paris or Sodom.
I wadnae had him naething else

But Johnie Adam.
He suffered - as have a' that wan

Eternal memory frae man,
Since e'er the weary worl' began -

Mister or Madam,
Keats or Scots Burns, the Spanish Don

Or Johnie Adam.
We leuch, an' Johnie deid. An' fegs!

Hoo he had keept his stoiterin' legs
Sae lang's he did's a fact that begs

An explanation.
He stachers fifty years - syne plegs

To's destination.
I WHO ALL THE WINTER THROUGH

I WHO all the winter through
Cherished other loves than you,

And kept hands with hoary policy in marriage-bed and pew;
Now I know the false and true,

For the earnest sun looks through,
And my old love comes to meet me in the dawning and the dew.

Now the hedged meads renew
Rustic odour, smiling hue,

And the clean air shines and tinkles as the world goes wheeling through;
And my heart springs up anew,

Bright and confident and true,
And my old love comes to meet me in the dawning and the dew.

LOVE, WHAT IS LOVE?
LOVE - what is love? A great and aching heart;

Wrung hands; and silence; and a long despair.
Life - what is life? Upon a moorland bare

To see love coming and see love depart.
SOON OUR FRIENDS PERISH

SOON our friends perish,
Soon all we cherish

Fades as days darken - goes as flowers go.
Soon in December

Over an ember,
Lonely we hearken, as loud winds blow.

AS ONE WHO HAVING WANDERED ALL NIGHT LONG
AS one who having wandered all night long

In a perplexed forest, comes at length
In the first hours, about the matin song,

And when the sun uprises in his strength,
To the fringed margin of the wood, and sees,

Gazing afar before him, many a mile
Of falling country, many fields and trees,

And cities and bright streams and far-off Ocean's smile:
I, O Melampus, halting, stand at gaze:

I, liberated, look abroad on life,
Love, and distress, and dusty travelling ways,

The steersman's helm, the surgeon's helpful knife,
On the lone ploughman's earth-upturning share,

The revelry of cities and the sound
Of seas, and mountain-tops aloof in air,

And of the circling earth the unsupported round:
I, looking, wonder: I, intent, adore;

And, O Melampus, reaching forth my hands
In adoration, cry aloud and soar

In spirit, high above the supine lands
And the low caves of mortal things, and flee

To the last fields of the universe untrod,
Where is no man, nor any earth, nor sea,

And the contented soul is all alone with God.
STRANGE ARE THE WAYS OF MEN

STRANGE are the ways of men,
And strange the ways of God!

We tread the mazy paths
That all our fathers trod.

We tread them undismayed,
And undismayed behold

The portents of the sky,
The things that were of old.

The fiery stars pursue
Their course in heav'n on high;

And round the 'leaguered town,
Crest-tossing heroes cry.

Crest-tossing heroes cry;
And martial fifes declare

How small, to mortal minds,
Is merely mortal care.

And to the clang of steel
And cry of piercing flute

Upon the azure peaks
A God shall plant his foot:

A God in arms shall stand,
And seeing wide and far

The green and golden earth,
The killing tide of war,

He, with uplifted arm,
Shall to the skies proclaim

The gleeful fate of man,
The noble road to fame!

THE WIND BLEW SHRILL AND SMART
THE wind blew shrill and smart,

And the wind awoke my heart
Again to go a-sailing o'er the sea,

To hear the cordage moan
And the straining timbers groan,

And to see the flying pennon lie a-lee.
O sailor of the fleet,

It is time to stir the feet!
It's time to man the dingy and to row!

It's lay your hand in mine
And it's empty down the wine,

And it's drain a health to death before we go!
To death, my lads, we sail;

And it's death that blows the gale
And death that holds the tiller as we ride.

For he's the king of all
In the tempest and the squall,

And the ruler of the Ocean wild and wide!
MAN SAILS THE DEEP AWHILE

MAN sails the deep awhile;
Loud runs the roaring tide;

The seas are wild and wide;
O'er many a salt, o'er many a desert mile,

The unchained breakers ride,
The quivering stars beguile.

Hope bears the sole command;
Hope, with unshaken eyes,

Sees flaw and storm arise;
Hope, the good steersman, with unwearying hand,

Steers, under changing skies,
Unchanged toward the land.

O wind that bravely blows!
O hope that sails with all

Where stars and voices call!
O ship undaunted that forever goes

Where God, her admiral,
His battle signal shows!

What though the seas and wind
Far on the deep should whelm

Colours and sails and helm?
There, too, you touch that port that you designed -

There, in the mid-seas' realm,
Shall you that haven find.

Well hast thou sailed: now die,
To die is not to sleep.

Still your true course you keep,
O sailor soul, still sailing for the sky;

And fifty fathom deep
Your colours still shall fly.

THE COCK'S CLEAR VOICE INTO THE CLEARER AIR
THE cock's clear voice into the clearer air

Where westward far I roam,
Mounts with a thrill of hope,

Falls with a sigh of home.
A rural sentry, he from farm and field

The coming morn descries,
And, mankind's bugler, wakes

The camp of enterprise.
He sings the morn upon the westward hills

Strange and remote and wild;
He sings it in the land

Where once I was a child.
He brings to me dear voices of the past,

The old land and the years:
My father calls for me,

My weeping spirit hears.
Fife, fife, into the golden air, O bird,

And sing the morning in;
For the old days are past

And new days begin.
NOW WHEN THE NUMBER OF MY YEARS

NOW when the number of my years
Is all fulfilled, and I

From sedentary life
Shall rouse me up to die,

• earnest [´ə:nist] a.认真的 n.认真；诚恳 (初中英语单词)
• abroad [ə´brɔ:d] ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词)
• distress [di´stres] n.痛苦 vt.使苦恼 (初中英语单词)
• intent [in´tent] a.专心致志的 n.意图 (初中英语单词)
• thrill [θril] v.震惊；激动；刺激 (初中英语单词)
• remote [ri´məut] a.遥远的；偏僻的 (初中英语单词)
• confident [´kɔnfidənt] a.有信心的，自信的 (高中英语单词)
• darken [´dɑ:kən] v.变黑，转暗 (高中英语单词)
• margin [´mɑ:dʒin] n.边缘；空白；余地 (高中英语单词)
• mortal [´mɔ:tl] a.致命的 n.凡人 (高中英语单词)
• universe [´ju:nivə:s] n.天地；全人类；银河系 (高中英语单词)
• contented [kən´tentid] a.满足的；心满意足的 (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
• shrill [ʃril] a.(声音)尖锐的 (高中英语单词)
• tempest [´tempist] n.暴风雨 (高中英语单词)
• bravely [´breivli] ad.勇敢地；毅然 (高中英语单词)
• westward [´westwəd] a.向西的 n.西方；西部 (高中英语单词)
• humorous [´hju:mərəs] a.富于幽默的，诙谐的 (英语四级单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• hearken [´hɑ:kən] vi.听 (英语四级单词)
• far-off [´fɑ:rɔ:f] a.远方的，遥远的 (英语四级单词)
• martial [´mɑ:ʃəl] a.战争的；象军人的 (英语四级单词)
• fathom [´fæðəm] n.英寻 vt.推测，揣摩 (英语四级单词)
• uncanny [ʌn´kæni] a.神秘的；离奇的 (英语六级单词)
• adoration [,ædə´reiʃən] n.崇拜，敬爱 (英语六级单词)
• piercing [´piəsiŋ] a.刺(贯)穿的；尖刻的 (英语六级单词)
• sentry [´sentri] n.哨兵 v.站岗，放哨 (英语六级单词)
• weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)