Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A VAGABOND SONG, by JOHN NORTHERN HILLIARD


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A VAGABOND SONG, by                    
First Line: It's ho! For a song as wild and free
Last Line: And the love that lies in her eyes of blue!
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers; Wanderlust; Vagabonds; Tramps; Hoboes


IT'S ho! for a song as wild and free
As the swash of the waves in the open sea;
It's ho! for a song as unconfined
As the hawk that sails in the summer wind;
A song for a vagabond's heart and brain,
Refreshing and sweet as the roving rain
That chants to the thirsty earth,
Yo ho!
A song of rollicking mirth,
Yo ho!
A song of the grass and grain!

It's ho! for a vagabond's life, say I,
A vagabond live and a vagabond die;
It's ho! to roam in the solitudes
And chum with the birds in the vagrom woods,
To sleep with flowers, and wash in dew,
To dream of a love that is ever new, —
A love that never grows stale,
Yo ho!
Like a cask of rum or ale,
Yo ho!
A love that is ever true.

It's ho! for a stretch of the dusty road,
Or here a meadow, or there a lode;
It's ho! to hear in the early morn
The yellow allegro of tasselled corn;
To sail in fancy the golden main
Where breezes billow the seas of grain,
And the swallow that skims the tips,
Yo ho!
Are richly cargoed ships,
Yo ho!
Outbound for the ports of Spain!

It's ho! for the smell of the sap that swims,
When the maples sweat like an athlete's limbs;
It's ho! for the joys that crowd the spring,
The brawl of brooks, the birds that sing;
To wander at will the summer through,
Indifferent to blame, careless of due; —
In winter the kiss that slips
Yo ho!
From a nut-brown naiad's lips,
Yo ho!
And the love that lies in her eyes of blue!





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