And now no house on Woodcombe land

Is put much better out of hand

Than this, that I, through time and tide,
Was bent to build for you to guide.

W. I'll try with heart, and hand, and head,
That you shall speed as you have sped.

H. A few years since my wheels, unmade,
Were living timber, under bark,

And my new ploughshare's grey-blue blade
Was ore deep lying in the dark ;

But now I have my gear, and now

Have bought two mares to haul or plough.

I waited on, in careful mood,

For stock to win our livelihood.

W. Aye 'work and wait's' the wisest way,
For 'work and wait' will win the day.

NO TWO DAYS ALIKE

AYE, no two days, in all the year,

May fall alike in ev'ry way;

Alike in clouds that skies may show,

In all their glowing dyes,

Alike in winds, as low or high,

Or east or west, or wet or dry.

Alike in birds, that gripe the bark,
Or pipe on boughs, as leaved or bare,
Alike in cows, by mound or tree,

Dispers'd about the ground;

Below a moon, as thin a bow,

Or full, with stars as high or low.

Alike in ev'ry face, to take

Its place, with all its looks again,

And tongues to speak the same kind words,

Or call again each name.

Alike in trodden path, and flow'r

Below the feet, the selfsame hour.

If night can never fall to men
With all a foreday show'd their minds,

Then how shall merry cheer outlast

The many-nighted year;

Or why should time no more fulfil

Our hope for change to good from ill?

SEE-SAW

A HOUSEWIFE TO A NEIGHBOUR

H. So you are out of tea, then, quite,

And out of candle for the night?

N. And must be till the flood is down,
And I can go again to town.

H. Come in, then, you shall have your share Of anything that I can spare;

It would be hard if my good friends

Did me good turns, without amends.
At see-saw, see-saw, I and you

Would always make the fellow two.

N. As we had pull'd the uppermost

Grey rail, out clear of post and post,
And on the middle bar would lay
Its even-weighted ends; to play
At see-saw, high, with springy toes,
And see-saw, low, with springy blows.

H. And, so as you lift me, I'll try

To lift up you, if I am high;

Some evil day, if I let you

Fall down, why, I may tumble too.