SONG—THE OWL.
I
When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round,
And the whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.
II
When merry milkmaids click the latch,
And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch
Twice or thrice his roundelay,
Twice or thrice his roundelay;
Alone and warming his five wits,
the five senses. Cf. “Bless thy
five wits! Tom's a-cold,—O, do de, do de,
do de” (King Lear, III. iv. 59).
The white owl in the belfry sits.
