That fluttered idly in the gale

Or whipped themselves to sadder shreds.

The while I wrought, half listlessly,

On my dismantled subject, came

A sea-bird, settling on the same

With plaintive moan, as though that he

Had lost his mate upon the sea;

And—with my melancholy trend—

It brought dim dreams half understood—

It wrought upon my morbid mood,—