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Poems

Chapter 22: THROUGH THE WOOD. MODERN BALLAD.
By William Anderson
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Poetry

About This Book

This collection gathers lyrical pieces that trace the day's and year's cycles, moving through sunrise, morning, noonday, sunset, moonlight and seasonal scenes. It pairs brief landscape lyrics with sonnets, songs, and occasional narrative ballads, blending vivid natural description—mountains, streams, birds, and coastal views—with meditative reflections on mortality, faith, memory, and poetic ambition. The tone alternates between pastoral celebration and sober contemplation, favoring clear sensory detail, moral sentiment, and accessible stanza forms that foreground feeling and observation over formal experimentation.

THROUGH THE WOOD.
MODERN BALLAD.

Through the wood, through the wood,
Warbles the merle!
Through the wood, through the wood,
Gallops the earl!
Yet he heeds not its song
As it sinks on his ear,
For he lists to a voice
Than its music more dear.
Through the wood, through the wood,
Once and away,
The castle is gained,
And the lady is gay:
When her smile waxes sad,
And her eyes become dim;
Her bosom is glad,
If she gazes on him!
Through the wood, through the wood,
Over the wold,
Rides onward a band
Of true warriors bold;
They stop not for forest,
They halt not for water;
Their chieftain in sorrow
Is seeking his daughter.
Through the wood, through the wood,
Warbles the merle;
Through the wood, through the wood,
Prances the earl;
And on a gay palfrey
Comes pacing his bride;
While an old man sits smiling,
In joy, by her side.