No.30

BE CAREFUL, IT'S MY HEART
Irving Berlin 1888-19

Be careful, it's my heart,

It's not my watch you're holding, it's my heart.

It's not the note that I sent you that you quickly burned,

It's not the book I lent you that you never returned.

Remember, it's my heart,

The heart with which so willingly I part.

It's yours to take, to keep or break

But please, before you start

Be careful, it's my heart.

-o0o-

THE THRUSH'S NEST
John Clare 1793-1864

Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush
That overhung a mole-hill large and round,
I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush 
Sing hymns to sunrise, while I drank the sound
With joy; and, often an intruding guest,
I watched her secret toils from day to day - 
How true she warped the moss to form a nest,
And modelled it from within with wood and clay;
And by and by, like heath-bells gilt with dew,
There lay her shining eggs, as bright as flowers,
Ink-spotted over shells of greeny blue;
And there I witnessed, in the sunny hours,
A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
Glad as that sunshine and the laughing sky.

-o0o- 

I HAVE A GARDEN OF MY OWN

Thomas Moore 1779-1852

I have a garden of my own,

Shining with flowers of every hue;

I loved it dearly while alone,

But I shall love it more with you:

And there the golden bees shall come,

In summer time at break of morn,

And wake us with their busy hum

Around the Siha's fragrant thorn.

I have a fawn from Aden's land,

On leafy buds and berries nursed;

And you shall feed him from your hand,

Though he may start with fear at first;

And I will lead you where he lies

For shelter in the noon-tide heat;

And you may touch his sleeping eyes,

And feel his little silvery feet.

-o0o-

WHEN LOVELY WOMAN STOOPS TO FOLLY
Oliver Goldsmith 1728-74

When lovely woman stoops to folly
And finds too late that men betray,
What charm can soothe her melancholy,
What art can wash her guilt away?

The only art her guilt can cover,
To hide her shame from every eye,
To give repentance to her lover
And wring his bosom is - to die.

TODAY'S POST CONCLUDES THIS SERIES OF "AS LONG AS IT RHYMES"

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