 | Studies in verse (1865) |  |
118
A WINTER SERENADE.
Ere, sweeting, dim November pine
Her leaves away at winter's door,
Bring thy great eyes across the shine
Of yellow gusty woodland floor,
And sit thee down by where the squirrel
Ascends the stories of his pine.
Her leaves away at winter's door,
Bring thy great eyes across the shine
Of yellow gusty woodland floor,
And sit thee down by where the squirrel
Ascends the stories of his pine.
When only redbreast chirps thee on,
And fingered chestnut-leaves are hoar:
And lately green is come to wan
On lime and beech and sycamore;
And paths are sown with mast and acorn,
And shrew-mice gather winter-store
And fingered chestnut-leaves are hoar:
And lately green is come to wan
On lime and beech and sycamore;
And paths are sown with mast and acorn,
And shrew-mice gather winter-store
119
When plovers tremble up to cloud
In flights with starling dust bestrown,
And redwing nations restless-loud
O'er fallows left and right are sown,
And labyrinths of tree-branch network
Are black on banks of primrose zone.
In flights with starling dust bestrown,
And redwing nations restless-loud
O'er fallows left and right are sown,
And labyrinths of tree-branch network
Are black on banks of primrose zone.
The winds, all summer idly dead,
Give prelude to their winter tune:
Gray hoar-frost hears them, from his bed
Lays out white hands and wakens soon,
And laughs, as soughing elm-trees shed
Old homes of breeding rooks in June.
Give prelude to their winter tune:
Gray hoar-frost hears them, from his bed
Lays out white hands and wakens soon,
And laughs, as soughing elm-trees shed
Old homes of breeding rooks in June.
| Studies in verse (1865) | |