Fond fancies! wheresoe'er shall turn thine eye All vain desires, all lawless wishes quelled, XVIII TO A SKY-LARK ETHEREAL minstrel! pilgrim of the sky! Leave to the nightingale her shady wood; Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood Type of the wise who soar, but never roam ; True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home! XIX THE GREEN LINNET BENEATH these fruit-tree boughs that shed In this sequestered nook how sweet And birds and flowers once more to greet, One have I marked, the happiest guest Hail to Thee, far above the rest In joy of voice and pinion! Thou, Linnet! in thy green array, Presiding Spirit here to-day, Dost lead the revels of the May; And this is thy dominion. While birds, and butterflies, and flowers, A Life, a Presence like the Air, Thyself thy own enjoyment. Amid yon tuft of hazel trees, Yet seeming still to hover; My dazzled sight he oft deceives, As if by that exulting strain He mocked and treated with disdain 1803 XX O NIGHTINGALE! thou surely art A creature of a 'fiery heart' : These notes of thine-they pierce and pierce; Thou sing'st as if the God of wine Had helped thee to a Valentine; A song in mockery and despite Of shades, and dews, and silent night; I heard a Stock-dove sing or say He did not cease; but cooed—and cooed; XXI TO THE CUCKOO O BLITHE New-comer! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice. O Cuckoo shall I call thee Bird, Or but a wandering Voice? While I am lying on the grass Thy twofold shout I hear, At once far off, and near. 1806 Though babbling only to the Vale, Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours. Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring! Even yet thou art to me No bird, but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery ; The same whom in my school-boy days I listened to; that Cry Which made me look a thousand ways To seek thee did I often rove And I can listen to thee yet ; Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget That golden time again. O blessed Bird! the earth we pace An unsubstantial, faery place; That is fit home for Thee! |