The Burdens of Belief and Other Poems By The Duke of Argyll [i.e. G. D. Campbell] |
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THE DANBURY SWALLOW
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 | The Burdens of Belief and Other Poems |  |
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THE DANBURY SWALLOW
Where Essex lifts her greenest bower
And shrines an old chief Pastor's love,
Where every leaf on ivied tower
Hears all day long the brooding dove;
And shrines an old chief Pastor's love,
Where every leaf on ivied tower
Hears all day long the brooding dove;
From out the crowded haunts of life
Now youth, now age comes seeking there
Peace from the battle and the strife,
As in some fane of restful prayer.
Now youth, now age comes seeking there
Peace from the battle and the strife,
As in some fane of restful prayer.
Uncounted leagues of land and sea
Bring every summer bird that sings.
Each domesday oak, each clovered lea
Sees all the glancing of their wings.
Bring every summer bird that sings.
Each domesday oak, each clovered lea
Sees all the glancing of their wings.
The tangled brakes of flowering May
Pass into garlands rosy red;
And pools of water hold the day,
Redoubling glories overhead.
Pass into garlands rosy red;
And pools of water hold the day,
Redoubling glories overhead.
76
The gleaming fisher of the lake
Sits watching on her shadowed bough:
Rich turquoise worn for some dear sake
Set on a dark and lovely brow,
Sits watching on her shadowed bough:
Rich turquoise worn for some dear sake
Set on a dark and lovely brow,
Would pale before the fulgent ray
That marks the Halcyon's gliding track;
No mirrored pool beneath her way
Can throw one half her glories back.
That marks the Halcyon's gliding track;
No mirrored pool beneath her way
Can throw one half her glories back.
And when she darts upon her prey
She darts as with a meteor's flight,
Halo'd in showers of diamond spray,
Blue-flashing in her jewelled light.
She darts as with a meteor's flight,
Halo'd in showers of diamond spray,
Blue-flashing in her jewelled light.
And one familiar bird there came,
That ever sounds her twittering note
By cottage eave and latticed frame,
From creamy breast, and russet throat.
That ever sounds her twittering note
By cottage eave and latticed frame,
From creamy breast, and russet throat.
O'er half the world she finds her way
To skim each year this English lawn:
Her flight is part of summer day,
Her wings are busy with the dawn.
To skim each year this English lawn:
Her flight is part of summer day,
Her wings are busy with the dawn.
77
She loves no solitary place,
Nor forest lands, nor moor, nor fen,
She moveth ever in the face
And round the meadowed homes of men.
Nor forest lands, nor moor, nor fen,
She moveth ever in the face
And round the meadowed homes of men.
One year, for nest, she chose instead
Of barn, or eave, or raftered door,
The lowly vestibule that led
Unto a little chapel floor.
Of barn, or eave, or raftered door,
The lowly vestibule that led
Unto a little chapel floor.
All that fair week she carried straws
And built her fragile house with clay:
No hand enforced the household laws
That would have stopped her happy way.
And built her fragile house with clay:
No hand enforced the household laws
That would have stopped her happy way.
Next year she came, and flew around,—
On one bright morn of perfect calm
Her place was echoing to the sound
Of children's chanting of a psalm.
On one bright morn of perfect calm
Her place was echoing to the sound
Of children's chanting of a psalm.
She sat entranced, and heard the praise
That David sang of homing bird;
She heard her name from ancient days,
And wondered at the gracious word;
That David sang of homing bird;
She heard her name from ancient days,
And wondered at the gracious word;
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Then, waiting till the parting few
Had passed into the blossomed air,
On to God's altar straight she flew
And laid her young ones there.
Had passed into the blossomed air,
On to God's altar straight she flew
And laid her young ones there.
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