"'Like hers that daily deafens like a rook:

I am the phœnix!'—'I, the lark, the dove,

—The owl,' for aught knows he who blindly took

"Peacock for partner, while the vale, the grove,

The plain held bird-mates in abundance. There!

Youth, try fresh capture! Age has found out Love

"Long ago. War seems better worth man's care.

But leave me! Disappointment finds a balm

Haply in slumber." "This first step o' the stair

"To knowledge fails me, but the victor's palm