| |
| OUT of the hills of Habersham, | |
| Down the valleys of Hall, | |
| I hurry amain to reach the plain, | |
| Run the rapid and leap the fall, | |
| Split at the rock and together again, | 5 |
| Accept my bed, or narrow or wide, | |
| And flee from folly on every side | |
| With a lover’s pain to attain the plain | |
| Far from the hills of Habersham, | |
| Far from the valleys of Hall. | 10 |
| |
| All down the hills of Habersham, | |
| All through the valleys of Hall, | |
| The rushes cried Abide, abide, | |
| The wilful waterweeds held me thrall, | |
| The laving laurel turned my tide, | 15 |
| The ferns and the fondling grass said Stay, | |
| The dewberry dipped for to work delay, | |
| And the little reeds sighed Abide, abide, | |
| Here in the hills of Habersham | |
| Here in the valleys of Hall. | 20 |
| |
| High o’er the hills of Habersham, | |
| Veiling the valleys of Hall, | |
| The hickory told me manifold | |
| Fair tales of shade, the poplar tall | |
| Wrought me her shadowy self to hold, | 25 |
| The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine, | |
| Overleaning, with flickering meaning and sign, | |
| Said, Pass not, so cold, these manifold | |
| Deep shades of the hills of Habersham, | |
| These glades in the valleys of Hall. | 30 |
| |
| And oft in the hills of Habersham, | |
| And oft in the valleys of Hall, | |
| The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook-stone | |
| Did bar me of passage with friendly brawl, | |
| And many a luminous jewel lone | 35 |
| —Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist, | |
| Ruby, garnet and amethyst— | |
| Made lures with the lights of streaming stone | |
| In the clefts of the hills of Habersham, | |
| In the beds of the valleys of Hall. | 40 |
| |
| But oh, not the hills of Habersham, | |
| And oh, not the valleys of Hall | |
| Avail: I am fain for to water the plain. | |
| Downward the voices of Duty call— | |
| Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main, | 45 |
| The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn, | |
| And a myriad flowers mortally yearn, | |
| And the lordly main from beyond the plain | |
| Calls o’er the hills of Habersham, | |
Calls through the valleys of Hall.
1877. | 50 |
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