The New and the Old Song

A new song should be sweetly song,

It goes but to the ear ;
A new song should be sweetly sung,

For it touches no one near :
But an old song may be roughly sung;

The ear forgets its art,
As comes upon the rudest tongue,

The tribute to the heart.

A new song should be sweetly sung,

For memory gilds it not ;
It brings not back the strains that rung

Through childhood's sunny cot.
But an old song may be roughly sung.

It tells of days of gf^ee,

When the boy to his mother clung,
Or danc'd on his father's knee.

On tented fields 'tis welcome still ;

'Tis sweet on the stormy sea.
In forest wild, on rocky hill.

And away on the prairie-lea : —
But dearer far the old song,

"When friends we love are nigh.
And well known voices, clear and strong,

Unite in the chorus-cry.

Of the old song, the old song.

The song of the days of glee,
When the boy to his mother clung.

Or danc'd on his father's knee !
Oh, the old song — the old song !

The song of the days of glee,
The new song may be better sung.

But the good old song for me !