SWEET SHENANDOAH
(By the Bachelor.)
I’m thinking of Sweet Shenandoah
That ever brings a pleasing dream
Of mountain, plain, and winding stream,
And joyous days of long ago,
On silent wings of memory,
Are coming back to me.
I hear the daybreak braggards crow,
As oft I heard that shrill refrain
When there I yawned and slept again;
I hear the noon-day tin horn blow,
Oh, sweeter than Æolian tones,
Its welcome to the hungry zones,
Where men afield with plow and hoe,
Who hear its call, are turning home—
Their jaded horses, flecked with foam,
Now answer with a knowing neigh—
It all comes back to me.
The meadows there seem ripe to mow,
So tawny, thick, and redolent
The bulky heads are downward bent.
The long, sweet day is there, and oh!
I hear the murmuring melody
Of streams that wind so merrily,
And romp and laugh as on they flow
To mingle with the greater stream,
Then lose themselves as in a dream,
And still by day and night they go
To dream and dream eternally—
It all comes back to me.
How often when the sun would glow,
I’ve conjured o’er some boyish theme
With lazy lollings by the stream
As past me it would babbling go,
Till, as the shadows forth would creep,
I’ve yielded to a drowsy sleep,
Unmindful that the sun was low,
When nature’s own sweet lullaby
Came soothingly to me.
Sweet eventide of long ago,
When swallows circled near the barn
And peacocks called their false forlorn;
When over at the dusky row
Was heard the darkies’ jamboree,
In weird and unchecked rhapsody;
Far down the milky way would bow—
’Twas night and full of witchery
In boyhood days to me.
I’m thinking of sweet Shenandoah
And days before the Civil Strife—
I loved the old Virginia life,
The joyous days of long ago
When all the world to us we knew
Was there; when tears and laughter, too,
Were shared by all; if tears should flow
’Twas common cause for sympathy;
To laugh was to intensify
The cause of laughter so. I grow
To fondly love the memory
That now comes back to me.
“Malindy, Malindy, we’re waiting for you,”
Cried the dancers, “Come sing of an old lover true,
And tell us which one of them all was the best,
Or if none of them suit who to you have confessed,
Pray tell us if some one you know of will do;
Then sing us a song of a love that is new,
And tell us if ever you mean to be wed;
Or if you intend to stay single instead—
Malindy, Malindy, we all want to know,
Why is it you always are fooling ’round so?”