The Poetical Works of David Gray A New and Enlarged Edition; Edited by Henry Glassford Bell |
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The Cuckoo.
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 | The Poetical Works of David Gray |  |
158
The Cuckoo.
Last night a vision was dispelled,
Which I can never dream again;
A wonder from the earth has gone,
A passion from my brain.
I saw upon a budding ash
A cuckoo, and she blithely sung
To all the valleys round about,
While on a branch she swung.
Cuckoo, cuckoo! I looked around,
And like a dream fulfilled,
A slender bird of modest brown,
My sight with wonder thrilled.
I looked again and yet again;
My eyes, thought I, do sure deceive me,
But when belief made doubting vain,
Alas, the sight did grieve me.
For twice to-day I heard the cry,
The hollow cry of melting love;
And twice a tear bedimmed my eye—
I saw the singer in the grove,
I saw him pipe his eager tone,
Like any other common bird,
And, as I live, the sovereign cry
Was not the one I always heard.
Which I can never dream again;
A wonder from the earth has gone,
A passion from my brain.
I saw upon a budding ash
A cuckoo, and she blithely sung
To all the valleys round about,
While on a branch she swung.
Cuckoo, cuckoo! I looked around,
And like a dream fulfilled,
159
My sight with wonder thrilled.
I looked again and yet again;
My eyes, thought I, do sure deceive me,
But when belief made doubting vain,
Alas, the sight did grieve me.
For twice to-day I heard the cry,
The hollow cry of melting love;
And twice a tear bedimmed my eye—
I saw the singer in the grove,
I saw him pipe his eager tone,
Like any other common bird,
And, as I live, the sovereign cry
Was not the one I always heard.
O why within that lusty wood
Did I the fairy sight behold?
O why within that solitude
Was I thus blindly overbold?
My heart, forgive me! for indeed
I cannot speak my thrilling pain:
The wonder vanished from the earth,
The passion from my brain.
Did I the fairy sight behold?
O why within that solitude
Was I thus blindly overbold?
160
I cannot speak my thrilling pain:
The wonder vanished from the earth,
The passion from my brain.
| The Poetical Works of David Gray | |