SONGS WITHOUT SENSE

Affection's charm no longer gilds

The idol of the shrine;

But cold Oblivion seeks to fill

Regret's ambrosial wine.

Though Friendship's offering buried lies

‘ Neath cold Aversion's snow,

Regard and Faith will ever bloom

Perpetually below.

I see thee whirl in marble halls,

In Pleasure's giddy train;

Remorse is never on that brow,

Nor Sorrow's mark of pain.

Deceit has marked thee for her own;

Inconstancy the same;

And Ruin wildly sheds its gleam

Athwart thy path of shame.

The dews are heavy on my brow;

My breath comes hard and low;

Yet, mother dear, grant one request,

Before your boy must go.

Oh! lift me ere my spirit sinks,

And ere my senses fail,

Place me once more, O mother dear,

Astride the old fence-rail.

The old fence-rail, the old fence-rail!

How oft these youthful legs,

With Alice’ and Ben Bolt's, were hung

Across those wooden pegs!

‘ Twas there the nauseating smoke

Of my first pipe arose:

O mother dear, these agonies

Are far less keen than those.

I know where lies the hazel dell,

Where simple Nellie sleeps;

I know the cot of Nettie Moore,

And where the willow weeps.

I know the brookside and the mill,

But all their pathos fails

Beside the days when once I sat

Astride the old fence-rails.

I'm a gay tra, la, la,

With my fal, lal, la, la,

And my bright —

And my light —

Tra, la, le.

Then laugh, ha, ha, ha,

And ring, ting, ling, ling,

And sing fal, la, la,

La, la, le.