"THE POET OF YARDLEY"
"Allen Livezey, descended of an old family of the county, and the son of Robert and Sarah L., was born in Solebury township, January 11, 1811. He developed an early attachment for books and was very fond of writing verses. On his marriage he settled in Lumberville, but afterward spent several years in Philadelphia, whence he returned, and settled first at Taylorsville and then removed to Yardleyville. He contributed prose sketches and snatches of poetry to the county papers, etc. His verses 'To Cuttalossa,' a delightful retreat near Lumberville, we give below:"
[Published in 1905 in "History of Bucks County" by William W.H. Davis]
Allen Livezey (Circa 1870)
How often in my youthful days
I've walked along thy winding ways,
When shaded from the sun's bright rays,
How dear was Cuttalossa.
But what a change in fifty years,
I hardly can refrain from tears,
My mind is haunted so with fears
For the fate of Cuttalossa.
How wild and how romantic then
The path along this silent glen-
Now shorn of all by grasping men
Where rolls old Cuttalossa.
Near by the stream I used to run
To shoot the squirrel with my gun,
And there to fish I first begun
In thy waters, Cuttalossa.
But since the trees of ev'ry height
Have disappeared from human sight,
In shines the sun from morn till night
On dear old Cuttalossa.
No more the squirrels do we see
Nimbly leaping from tree to tree;
No fox is running wild and free
Along old Cuttalossa.
Thy streams grow less, ah! tell me why
At thy decline we heave a sigh,
And raise our voice to Him on high
To spare us Cuttalossa.
[Text and Poem copied from Volume II, Second Edition, "History of Bucks County" by William W.H. Davis available at Bucks County Free Library, Doylestown, Pennsylvania]
Allen Livezey (1814-1900)
Craven's Yardley Site
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