’TWIXT DAYBREAK AND DAYLIGHT.

The glint and glimmer of the daybreak shows

In the fast-reddening east; the sable clouds

With roseate streaks and golden threads are lined;

And the first early cock, awakening, rings

His shrill clear challenge on the breaking morn!

A voiceless stir of many murmurings,

From woodland, hill, and dale, and meadow, tells

The flight of slumber: now the cricket chirps

Amid the barley, and the skylark plumes

His wing for early rising; passes by

The milkmaid to the pasture; and the farm

Grows noisy with the many-varied sounds

Of rustic labour, telling that hath fled

The drowsy sweet forgetfulness of night!

Shadows of dreamland pass from earth away

Into the mystic world of things unseen;

The stern necessities of daily life

Again their round commence, as, one by one,

Toilers awaken to the coming day!

Printed and Published by W. & R. Chambers, 47 Paternoster Row, London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In theodolites and other similar instruments for taking observations, lines of spider-silk cross the centre of the glass at right angles for certain purposes of observation.