Classic Poem

A summer night, with weather clear
And warm, the two young Hines would come
And bring their sister Jessie here
To see our Jane again at home;
Aboard their boat they scudded fast,
With tight-blown sail athwart their mast,
Along the broadly-lying stream
Of gleaming waters gliding down.

And in the meadows lay or stray'd
The cows that stand by Jessie's pail;
And in the lease her pony neigh'd
And pricked his ears, with upsprung tail;
And up by house or pathway ground
Some hand was waved, or hat swung round;
And there they heard a laugh, and here
A cheer, by waters gliding down.

While up about our house, at last,
They talk'd the third gay hour away —
The risen moon came round, and cast
Her light the way the river lay;
And there, as wavy water play'd
Beside the mossy wall in shade,
Their boat, now empty, lightly sprung
And swung on water gliding down.

John Hine would take our Jane away,
And I would keep her merry face,
But cannot tell what I might say
If he gave Jessie in her place.
And so we kindly bade them speed
A-down the stream, by mound and mead,
As leapt their dancing boat away
With spray on water gliding down.