Back Aa

Two Twilights

Close

<h3> A HOLIDAY ECLOGUE </h3> ABOVE First Mason: Tink-a-link! Tink-a-link! Hear the trowels ring; Feel the merry breezes make the scaffold swing; See the skimming swallow brush us with her wing:— Go it with your hammers, boys; time us while we sing. BELOW. First Student: See the yellow sparkle of the Neckar in the glass, And through the cedar branches sparkles blue the sea; Hear the sweet piano—hear the German lass Sing Freut" euch des Lebens—Oh! "I love I love the free!" Second Student: I like the canary better; Look, how he swells his throttle! He gurgles like musical water That dances and sings in a bottle. ABOVE. Second Mason: D'ye mind the students down in the grove Drinking their wine and beer? That's an easy life they lead. First Mason: So do we up here When the weathercock points west And the look-off's clear. Third Mason: House-top Jim's the boy for work! First Mason: True for you, my dear. (Whistles "The Girl I Left Behind me.") BELOW. First Student: See the Dutchmen on those settees: Isn't it like the Rhine? And the old church-tower up over the trees— Kellner! Noch ein Stein! Third Student: I'd like to work with those masons there Half way up the sky. The air is sweet where the pigeons build, And the world is all in their eye. Second Student: But "Love is of the valley:" the Gretchen and the Kellner Haunt the cheerful levels of the lower story. Glory in the garret—comfort in the cellar: I will keep the comfort—you may take the glory. ABOVE. First Mason: Look up at the pointers: they 're drawing close together; 'T is here we get the earliest news of sun, and moon, and weather; We can hear time's pulse a-ticking, with the whistling weathercock. Drop your mortar-boards, my lads, it's coming twelve o'clock. Third Mason: Oh! it's hungry that I am with working in the wind, But there's a shawl and bonnet—below there: do you mind? It's Molly with the dinner-pail: she's coming in the door. Faith, my belly thinks my throat is cut this half an hour and more. (The church clock strikes the noon.) <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2