The Summons

A sterner errand to the silken troop     Has quenched the uneasy blush that warmed my cheek;     I am commissioned in my day of joy     To leave my woods and streams and the sweet sloth     Of prayer and song that were my dear delight,     To leave the rudeness of my woodland life,     Sweet twilight walks and midnight solitude     And kind acquaintance with the morning stars     And the glad hey-day of my household hours,     The innocent mirth which sweetens daily bread,     Railing in love to those who rail again,     By mind's industry sharpening the love of life--     Books, Muses, Study, fireside, friends and love,     I loved ye with true love, so fare ye well!     I was a boy; boyhood slid gayly by     And the impatient years that trod on it     Taught me new lessons in the lore of life.     I've learned the sum of that sad history     All woman-born do know, that hoped-for days,     Days that come dancing on fraught with delights,     Dash our blown hopes as they limp heavily by.     But I, the bantling of a country Muse,     Abandon all those toys with speed to obey     The King whose meek ambassador I go.