Rev. Richard Wilton, M.A.
THE CHIFF-CHAFF'S MESSAGE, HEARD IN MARCH.
"Cheer up, cheer up!" it seems to say,
As lighting on some leafless spray,
It shakes its dissyllabic song,
And with small beak, but courage strong,
Charges the East-wind all the day.
"Soon will the Swallow round you play,
The Nightingale be on its way,
Blue skies and gladness come ere long,
Cheer up, cheer up!"
Such happy voice be mine, I pray,
Bleak hours to bless with sunny ray,
A comfort life's rough path among;
Be mine to lighten pain and wrong,
Still letting fall a hopeful lay—
Cheer up, cheer up!
Rev. Richard Wilton, M.A.
"WHEN SUMMER DIES."
When Summer dies, the leaves are falling fast
In fitful eddies on the chilly blast,
And fields lie blank upon the bare hillside
Where erst the poppy flaunted in its pride,
And woodbine on the breeze its fragrance cast.
And where the hawthorn scattered far and wide
Its creamy petals in the sweet Springtide
Red berries hang, for birds a glad repast
When summer dies.