Some love sorrows dismal howls
Write verses on her sighs & scowls
And rant about her mourning dress
Her long black funeral array
Her veil which shuts out light & day
And love her not the less

Although she sits with woful face
On some old monumental tomb
Where yellow skulls & bones have place
Where corpses rot in churchyard gloom

I wish some eve as thus she's weeping
While sober men are soundly sleeping
Amid the obscurity of night
From out its grave a ghost woul[d] start
And make her throat receive her heart
And give her sore affright

Or catch her by the long black gown
No matter how the lady screams
Into the damp vault drag her down
Where sun or moonlight never beams

But cheerfulness full well I know
& oft Ive' seen her ruddy face
Her lips whence streams of pleasure flow,
Wher[e] tones of joy have place

One morn as the skylark tuned his song
Afar in the heavens on high
I walked forth the green fields & the uplands among
To list' the sweet tones from the sky

Onward I sprang
While light music rang
Above & below & around.
For the black-bird the linnet the dove & the thrush
Filled the air with a warbling sound

The fresh breeze of dawn passed o'er the hills
Laden with insence of flowers
It sung with the fountain & rippled the rills
& sighed softly throug[h] the green bow[e]rs
Joy was in earth & joy was in heaven
And joy was also in me
I felt gladness & health & strong might given
By the wind of the morning free

While I brushed the dew with hasty feet
From golden cups & clover sweet
I felt on my arm a touch like light
Or the downy wings of some gentle sprite
& e're I could turn myself around
I heard the sweet tones & the silvery sound
Of an oft-heard well-known voice
& one stood by in a robe that shone
As the soft fair clouds which array the moon
Her radiant eyes were of lucid blue
& her crown of flowers rich odours threw
It was her whom all lands & nations bless
& her welcome name is cheerfulness

She gave me a sign with winning grace
While dimpled smiles illumed her face
I followed as she led
On we passed by moor and lea
Plain & vale & stream and Tree
Over hills w[h]ere torrents rushed
Down deep glens where whirlwinds gushed
Nought could stop our way

Now Apollo reached the west
Diving in the oceans wave
Thetis' bowers afford him rest
Billows vast his coursers lave

When we gained a mighty plain
Stretching to the horizons bound
Verdant as the robe of spring
Flowers of summer strewed the ground
Gloomy silence held her reign
& the skys exalteded dome
Shone with glory of the stars
Beauteous gems of twilights throne

Suddenly a song arose
Through the obscurity of night
On my sight fair visions grew
Lovely forms all swiftly flew
Upsprang a golden light
Then merry music rang
And bright lamps radiance flang
On thousand burning gems
Who sent back the dazzling streams
& the green grassy earth & the mild ambient air
Glowed with the strong insufferable glare

I viewed it for an instant then night in double gloom
Fell around on the world with the silence of the tomb
The moon no more her pale light shed
No glimmering stars were o'er my head
For I lay asleep in a curtained bed
& when I had awakened
The apparitions all were fled

Instead of the musics heavenly strain
I heard the fast-descending rain
Rattle against my window pane
I tossed about & strove in vain
To sleep or slumber once again

So, At length I rose
& put on my clothes
The whole house slept
So I softly crept
Down the long winding stair
& passed the gate by bribing the guard
& I bent my steps to the poultry yard
When who should I meet
At a turn of the street
But Tree, with a cock & hen
I collared the theif & bade him say
Why he was at this time o' day
But Tree got free & skulked away
& I never caught him again