THE CKOW 



MY friend and neighbor through the year, 

 Self-appointed overseer 



Of my crops of fruit and grain, 

 Of my woods and furrowed plain, 



Claim thy tithings right and left, 

 I shall never call it theft. 



Nature wisely made the law, 

 And I fail to find a flaw 



In thy title to the earth, 

 And all it holds of any worth. 



I like thy self-complacent air, 

 I like thy ways so free from care, 



Thy landlord stroll about my fields, 

 Quickly noting what each yields ; 



Thy courtly mien and bearing bold, 

 As if thy claim were bought with gold ; 



Thy floating shape against the sky, 

 When days are calm and clouds are high ; 



