University of Virginia Library


55

SONNET X. RHINEFIELD.

Rhinefield! as through thy solitude I rove,
Now lost amid the deep wood's gloomy night,
Doubtful I trace a ray of glimmering light;
Now where some antique oak, itself a grove,
Spreads its broad umbrage o'er the sunny glade,
Stretch'd on its mossy roots, at early dawn,
While o'er the furze with light-bound leaps the fawn,
I count the herd that crop the dewy blade:
Frequent at eve list to the hum profound,
That all around upon the chill breeze floats,
Broke by the lonely keeper's wild strange notes,
At distance follow'd by the browsing deer;
Or the bewilder'd stranger's plaintive sound,
That dies in less'ning murmurs on the ear.
 

A lodge in the New Forest.