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Small Tableaux

By the Rev. Charles Turner [i.e. Charles Tennyson]

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NO NIGHTINGALES, OR COMPENSATION.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


46

NO NIGHTINGALES, OR COMPENSATION.

Night of 31st of May.

Long time I waited for the nightingale,
Befooled by that dumb coppice; till the dove
And finch descried me watching in the grove,
Poor client of the darkness, worn and pale:
But oh! how often is our frustrate hope
Exchanged by Heaven for unexpected mirth!
Though baulked and sleepless, yet I could not mope
'Mid the full matins of the awakened earth;
Bold chanticleer, alighting from his perch,
‘The night birds play thee false,’ he said—and crowed;
‘Welcome to truth and day!’ The lark uprode
And carolled. Thus, amid my weary search
For song in bowers of silence, June was born,
And tuneless night exchanged for choral morn.