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Sungleams

Rondeaux and Sonnets. By the Rev. Richard Wilton
  
  

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 I. 
 III. 
 IV. 
 VI. 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
 X. 
 XI. 
 XII. 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 XV. 
 XVI. 
 XVII. 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 XX. 
 XXI. 
 XXII. 
 XXV. 
 XXVI. 
 XXVII. 
 XXVIII. 
 XXIX. 
 XXX. 
 XXXI. 
 XXXII. 
 XXXIII. 
 XXXIV. 
 XXXV. 
 XXXVII. 
 XXXVIII. 
 XXXIX. 
 XL. 
 XLI. 
 XLII. 
XLII. AFTER READING TENNYSON'S “IDYLLS OF THE KING.”
 XLIII. 
 XLIV. 
 XLV. 
 XLVI. 
 XLVII. 
 XLVIII. 
 XLIX. 
 L. 
  


109

XLII. AFTER READING TENNYSON'S “IDYLLS OF THE KING.”

I listened to our Nightingale of song
Amidst his Laurel leaves, till I was stirred
To my heart's depths by the sweet strains I heard,
So lofty, so melodious, and so strong.
Then rose the questioning thought, Why should I wrong
The ears of men, like some thin-piping bird,
With chiming sonnet and with rhyming word,
When such a voice resounds the woods among?
Came the reply, God made the nightingale—
God made the chiff-chaff also, with its twain
Small notes monotonous that never fail,
The summer through, in copse and country lane—
Gladness and gratitude their ceaseless tale,
To God's ear pleasing as that higher strain!