 | Denzil place |  |
Often in summer days these two would go
And gather cowslips in the dewy fields
Before the hay was mown. The cuckoo-flow'r
Here rais'd her fragile head, and here and there
With joyous cry, the happy child would hail
The rarer blossom of the orchis, prim
And purple, with its spotted snake-like leaves.
As the cool meadow sloped towards the lake,
The grass grew rank and tall and bulrushy,
And giant buttercups and pigmy frogs,
And all the wondrous sprawling water-flies,
Made little Roland clap his hands in glee—
Here was a boat, wherein the youthful friends
Would row at eventide, and watch the sun
Sink down behind the western woodland ridge;
Then all the water grew a pink surprise
To Roland—pink at first, then pale and wan
And yellow as the primroses, then white,
A shining, dazzling, oval mirror, set
In the dim, dark'ning purple of the night.
And gather cowslips in the dewy fields
Before the hay was mown. The cuckoo-flow'r
Here rais'd her fragile head, and here and there
With joyous cry, the happy child would hail
The rarer blossom of the orchis, prim
And purple, with its spotted snake-like leaves.
As the cool meadow sloped towards the lake,
The grass grew rank and tall and bulrushy,
And giant buttercups and pigmy frogs,
And all the wondrous sprawling water-flies,
Made little Roland clap his hands in glee—
Here was a boat, wherein the youthful friends
Would row at eventide, and watch the sun
Sink down behind the western woodland ridge;
Then all the water grew a pink surprise
To Roland—pink at first, then pale and wan
And yellow as the primroses, then white,
12
In the dim, dark'ning purple of the night.
| Denzil place | |