The Mockers and other Verses By Jane Barlow |
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| II. | II IN THE HAND |
 | The Mockers and other Verses |  |
91
II
IN THE HAND
Where shadow and silence weave no spells in vain,
There dreams and day-banned musings throng at will,
Waxed bold and swift as wild birds if we spill
Athwart the frost-bound path a streak of grain:
So thou, long since for some rare fancy fain,
Might sing thee measured lays, through all these still
Dim hours hast watched, intent thy grasp to fill
With such a prize ere morning stirred again.
There dreams and day-banned musings throng at will,
Waxed bold and swift as wild birds if we spill
Athwart the frost-bound path a streak of grain:
So thou, long since for some rare fancy fain,
Might sing thee measured lays, through all these still
Dim hours hast watched, intent thy grasp to fill
With such a prize ere morning stirred again.
And haply seeing how fast and thick they came,
Ambushed, hast deemed the snare an easy feat,
Full soon to learn the fairest were the fleet:
This captive, fluttering till thine hand shall tame,
Is spoil thereof not that his song was sweet
Or plumage gay, but since his wing was lame.
Ambushed, hast deemed the snare an easy feat,
Full soon to learn the fairest were the fleet:
This captive, fluttering till thine hand shall tame,
Is spoil thereof not that his song was sweet
Or plumage gay, but since his wing was lame.
| The Mockers and other Verses | |