"Art thou a Knight elected, And have three Maidens thee bedight; The first tilt they together rode They put their steeds to the test; Now lie the lords upon the plain, And their blood runs unto death; CHILDHOOD. THERE was a time when I was very small, Sweetly, as I recall it, tears do fall, And therefore I recall it with delight. I sported in my tender mother's arms, And rode a-horseback on best father's knee; Alike were sorrows, passions, and alarms, And gold, and Greek, and love, unknown to me. Then seemed to me this world far less in size, Likewise it seemed to me less wicked far; Like points in heaven, I saw the stars arise, And longed for wings that I might catch a star. I saw the moon behind the island fade, And thought, "O, were I on that island there, I could find out of what the moon is made, Find out how large it is, how round, how fair!" Wondering, I saw God's sun through western skies, Sink in the ocean's golden lap at night, And yet upon the morrow early rise, And paint the eastern heaven with crimson light; And thought of God, the gracious Heavenly Father, With childish reverence, my young lips did say The prayer my pious mother taught to me: "O Gentle God! O, let me strive alway 66 Still to be wise, and good, and follow thee!" So prayed I for my father and my mother, They perished, the blithe days of boyhood perished, MISCELLANEOUS TRANSLATIONS. THE FUGITIVE. TARTAR SONG, FROM THE PROSE VERSION OF CHODZKO. I. "He is gone to the desert land! I can see the shining mane Of his horse on the distant plain, As he rides with his Kossak band! "Come back, rebellious one! Let thy proud heart relent; Come back to my tall, white tent, "Thy hand in freedom shall Cast thy hawks, when morning breaks, "I will give thee leave to stray A "I will give thee my coat of mail, II. "This hand no longer shall Cast my hawks, when morning breaks, "I will no longer stray And pasture my hunting steeds "Though thou give me thy coat of mail, Of softest leather made, With choicest steel inlaid, "What right hast thou, O Khan, To me, who am mine own, Who am slave to God alone, "God will appoint the day When I again shall be By the blue, shallow sea, Where the steel-bright sturgeons play. "God, who doth care for me, "When I wander, lonely and lost, "Yea, wheresoever I be, In the yellow desert sands, In mountains or unknown lands, III. Then Sobra, the old, old man,- |