University of Virginia Library


65

“O bliss to eager breasts! The bliss, when first
From riven and shattered azure mansions burst
Our long-loved hoped-for joys! Starkly in view
Pale-pink, and shuddering 'mid the fragments blue!
How brief the yearning glance thou wilt allow,
In thy fluff-feathered, fostering zeal, I know
Truly, O Love! But when thy callow brood
Stretch wide their yellow mouths agape for food,
My fondness then will overhanging doat
While filling wistfully each tittering throat.