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Poems, Dialogues in Verse and Epigrams

By Walter Savage Landor: Edited with notes by Charles G. Crump

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XXX.

[The Wine is murmuring in the gloom]

The Wine is murmuring in the gloom,
Because he feels that Spring is come
To gladden everything outside . .
To wing the dove to meet his bride,
And not disdainfully to pass
Even the snail along the grass;
Because he feels that on the slope
Of his own hill the vine-flowers ope;
Because he feels that never more
Will earth or heaven his past restore.
He beats against the ribs of iron
Which him and all his strength environ;
He murmurs, swells, and beats again,
But murmurs, swells, and beats in vain.
Why think about it?” Need I say,
Remembering one sweet hour last May?
We think and feel ('twas your remark)
Then most when all around is dark.