University of Virginia Library

THE YELLOW WAGTAILS NEST

Upon an edding in a quiet nook
We double down choice places in a book
& this I noted as a pleasant scene
Hemmed in all round with barleys juicey green
While in its clover grass at holiday
A broken plough as leisures partner lay
A pleasant bench among the grass & flowers
For merry weeders in their dinner hours
From fallow fields released & hot turmoil
It nestled like a thought forgot by toil
& seemed so picturesque a place for rest
I een dropt down to be a minutes guest
& as I bent me for a flower to stoop
A little bird cheeped loud & fluttered up
The grasses tottered with their husky seeds
That ramped beside the plough with ranker weeds
I looked—& there a snug nest deep & dry
Of roots & twitches entertained my eye
& six eggs sprinkled oer with spots of grey
Lay snug as comforts wishes ever lay
The yellow wagtail fixed its dwelling there
Sheltered from rainfalls by the shelving share
That leaned above it like a sheltering roof
From rain & wind & tempest comfort proof
Such safety-places little birds will find
Far from the cares & help of human kind
For nature is their kind protector still
To chuse their dwellings furthest off from ill
So thought I—sitting on that broken plough
While evenings sunshine gleamed upon my brow
So soft so sweet—& I so happy then
Felt life still eden from the haunts of men
& in the brook-pond waters spread below
Where misty willows wavered too & fro
The setting sun shed such a golden hue
I almost felt the poets fables true
& fashioned in my minds creating eye
Dryads & nymphs like beautys dreams go bye
From the rich arbours of the distant wood
To taste the spring & try its golden flood
Thus pleasures to the fancy often shine
Truest when false when fables most divine
& though each sweet consception soon decays
We feel such pleasures after many days