A blackbird in a wicker cage,That hung and swung ‘mid fruits and flowers,Had learnt the song-charm, to assuageThe drearness of its wingless hours. And ever when the song was heard,From trees that shade the grassy plotWarbled another glossy bird,Whose mate not long ago was shot. Strange anguish in that creature’s breast,Unwept like human grief, unsaid,Has […]

The clouds are withdrawnAnd their thin-rippled mist,That stream’d o’er the lawnTo the drowsy-eyed west.Cold and greyThey slept in the way,And shrank from the rayOf the chariot East:But now they are gone,And the bounding lightLeaps thro’ the barsOf doubtful dawn;Blinding the stars,And blessing the sight;Shedding delightOn all below;Glimmering fields,And wakening wealds,And rising lark,And meadows dark,And idle […]

I The spirit of Romance dies not to thoseWho hold a kindred spirit in their souls:Even as the odorous life within the roseLives in the scattered leaflets and controlsMysterious adoration, so there glowsAbove dead things a thing that cannot die;Faint as the glimmer of a tearful eye,Ere the orb fills and all the sorrow flows.Beauty […]

The daisy now is out upon the green;And in the grassy lanesThe child of April rains,The sweet fresh-hearted violet, is smelt and loved unseen. Along the brooks and meads, the daffodilIts yellow richness spreads,And by the fountain-headsOf rivers, cowslips cluster round, and over every hill. The crocus and the primrose may have gone,The snowdrop may […]

Merrily ‘mid the faded leaves,O Robin of the bright red breast!Cheerily over the Autumn eaves,Thy note is heard, bonny bird;Sent to cheer us, and kindly endear usTo what would be a sorrowful timeWithout thee in the weltering clime:Merry art thou in the boughs of the lime,While thy fadeless waistcoat glows on thy breast,In Autumn’s reddest […]

On yonder hills soft twilight dwellsAnd Hesper burns where sunset dies,Moist and chill the woodland smellsFrom the fern-covered hollows uprise;Darkness drops not from the skies,But shadows of darkness are flung o’er the valeFrom the boughs of the chestnut, the oak, and the elm,While night in yon lines of eastern pinesPreserves alone her inviolate realmAgainst the […]

Swept from his fleet upon that fatal nightWhen great Poseidon’s sudden-veering wrathScattered the happy homeward-floating GreeksLike foam-flakes off the waves, the King of CreteHeld lofty commune with the dark Sea-god.His brows were crowned with victory, his cheeksWere flushed with triumph, but the mighty joyOf Troy’s destruction and his own great deedsPassed, for the thoughts of […]

Come to me in any shape!As a victor crown’d with vine,In thy curls the clustering grape, –Or a vanquished slave:‘Tis thy coming that I crave,And thy folding serpent twine,Close and dumb;Ne’er from that would I escape;Come to me in any shape!Only come! Only come, and in my breastHide thy shame or show thy pride;In my […]

There were three maidens met on the highway;The sun was down, the night was late:And two sang loud with the birds of May,O the nightingale is merry with its mate. Said they to the youngest, Why walk you there so still?The land is dark, the night is late:O, but the heart in my side is […]

I When Sir Gawain was led to his bridal-bed,By Arthur’s knights in scorn God-sped:-How think you he felt?O the bride withinWas yellow and dry as a snake’s old skin;Loathly as sin!Scarcely faceable,Quite unembraceable;With a hog’s bristle on a hag’s chin! –Gentle Gawain felt as should we,Little of Love’s soft fire knew he:But he was the […]

The long cloud edged with streaming greySoars from the West;The red leaf mounts with it away,Showing the nestA blot among the branches bare:There is a cry of outcasts in the air. Swift little breezes, darting chill,Pant down the lake;A crow flies from the yellow hill,And in its wakeA baffled line of labouring rooks:Steel-surfaced to the […]

Now the frog, all lean and weak,Yawning from his famished sleep,Water in the ditch doth seek,Fast as he can stretch and leap:Marshy king-cups burning nearTell him ’tis the sweet o’ the year. Now the ant works up his moundIn the mouldered piny soil,And above the busy groundTakes the joy of earnest toil:Dropping pine-cones, dry and […]

Now ’tis Spring on wood and wold,Early Spring that shivers with cold,But gladdens, and gathers, day by day,A lovelier hue, a warmer ray,A sweeter song, a dearer ditty;Ouzel and throstle, new-mated and gay,Singing their bridals on every spray –Oh, hear them, deep in the songless City!Cast off the yoke of toil and smoke,As Spring is […]

O nightingale! how hast thou learntThe note of the nested dove?While under thy bower the fern hangs burntAnd no cloud hovers above!Rich July has many a skyWith splendour dim, that thou mightst hymn,And make rejoice with thy wondrous voice,And the thrill of thy wild pervading tone!But instead of to woo, thou hast learnt to coo:Thy […]

The old grey Alp has caught the cloud,And the torrent river sings aloud;The glacier-green Rosanna singsAn organ song of its upper springs.Foaming under the tiers of pine,I see it dash down the dark ravine,And it tumbles the rocks in boisterous play,With an earnest will to find its way.Sharp it throws out an emerald shoulder,And, thundering […]

I Now, this, to my notion, is pleasant cheer,To lie all alone on a ragged heath,Where your nose isn’t sniffing for bones or beer,But a peat-fire smells like a garden beneath.The cottagers bustle about the door,And the girl at the window ties her strings.She’s a dish for a man who’s a mind to be poor;Lord! […]

I When the Head of BranWas firm on British shoulders,God made a man!Cried all beholders. Steel could not resistThe weight his arm would rattle;He, with naked fist,Has brain’d a knight in battle. He marched on the foe,And never counted numbers;Foreign widows knowThe hosts he sent to slumbers. As a street you scan,That’s towered by the […]

O might I load my arms with thee,Like that young lover of RomanceWho loved and gained so gloriouslyThe fair Princess of France! Because he dared to love so high,He, bearing her dear weight, shall speedTo where the mountain touched on sky:So the proud king decreed. Unhalting he must bear her on,Nor pause a space to […]

I Pitch here the tent, while the old horse grazes:By the old hedge-side we’ll halt a stage.It’s nigh my last above the daisies:My next leaf ‘ll be man’s blank page.Yes, my old girl! and it’s no use crying:Juggler, constable, king, must bow.One that outjuggles all’s been spyingLong to have me, and he has me now. […]

I By this he knew she wept with waking eyes:That, at his hand’s light quiver by her head,The strange low sobs that shook their common bedWere called into her with a sharp surprise,And strangled mute, like little gaping snakes,Dreadfully venomous to him. She layStone-still, and the long darkness flowed awayWith muffled pulses. Then, as midnight […]