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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 lovers pain to attain the plain | |
Far from the hills of Habersham, | |
Far from the valleys of Hall. | 10 |
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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 |
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High oer 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 |
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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 |
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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 oer the hills of Habersham, | |
Calls through the valleys of Hall.
1877. | 50 |
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