My Wishes

Could I give to my wishes relief
And shape for my lifetime a lease,
I would be like the happy old chief,
In alliance with no one but — peace.
I would make of my acre or two
My kingdom and never seek pelf,
And large I'd consider it, too,
And loyal 'twould be to myself!

My subject, the farm, would grow fat
With share of the finest of grain,
Which no wetness nor wind should come at
Save in welcoming seasons of rain.
My castlekin still would be gay
And full of all kinds of delight;
And sweet would the song be, by day,
And pleasant the book towards night.

My cot would be airy to view,
In a nook by the wood and the well,
Where, on waking, each dawning of dew,
I'd hear the sweet bird-music swell.
The many-flowered grassy-edged stream
Would hum through bright fruit and new corn,
And would glitter and glimmer and gleam
With trout dancing up to the morn.

To cap all my pleasure and pride,
And the comfort of youth to complete,
I'd choose me a winsome young bride,
Sweet-tempered and comely and neat.
Her age should be nineteen, the best,
My own should be just twenty-four,
And the heart would leap up in my breast
To see our babe smile at the door.