Poems By William Bell Scott. Ballads, Studies from Nature, Sonnets, etc. Illustrated by Seventeen Etchings by the Author and L. Alma Tadema |
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 | Poems |  |
201
THE NIGHTINGALE UNHEARD.
Is that the much-desired, the wondrous wailOf the brown bird by poets loved so long?
Nay, it is but the thrush's rich clear song
Through the red sunset rung; but down the vale,
Beneath the starlight, never do we fail
To hear the love-lorn singer: still and dark
Above our heads the black boughs arch; and, hark!
A wild short note—another—then a trail
Of loud clear song is drawn athwart the glow.
Filling the formless night with cheerfulness.
But sure we know that melody full well,—
The dear old blackbird! Let's no further go;
There's no brown bird;—Ye poets all, confess
That Fancy only is your Philomel.
| Poems | |