POETRY.
GILLY.
(" The Liberty Not to Fight for One's Country.") WHERE have you been, Gilly, where have you been P Shooting at a mark with the lads upon the green P Or out on the moor where the yeomen do rally P "0 I played at the bowls all in yonder green alley."
If the Spanish ships should come, Gully, how would it be? "How should they come, and our good ships at sea P "
If a mist wrapped the waters, or a great wind blew, And so they crept in, Gilly, what would you do ?
What should we do if it fell upon a day, Our sailors all at sea, our yeomen all away, The foemen all streaming from carraok and galley, And you playing bowls all in yonder green alley P
"I would up and fight," says Gilly, " I would up and die !" What better were you, then, what better were I P
What worse were the foemen for all your brave ending, Who cannot lift a sword for your own home's defending P Take the old sword, Gilly, rusting on the wall, And lend out the horse, too, that frets in the stall : Go out to the moor where the yeomen do rally, And let the bowls moulder in yonder green alley !
C. Fox SMITH.
Previous page
