Zapolya (excerpts)

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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,
  [Image] We must away ;
  [Image][Image] Far, far away !
  [Image][Image][Image] To-day ! to-day !'

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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 :
  [Image]For the shepherds must go
  [Image]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 :
  [Image]For the shepherds must go
  [Image]With lance and bow
  To hunt the wolf in the woods to-day.

© Samuel Taylor Coleridge