And when it has grown too dark for you to see,

You close the book and wish for your dear Leigh:

Then comes a little bird, fluttering near,

And perches, fairy like, on the tip of your ear;

Then up you jump and would hunch it away;

But, spite of all, the little bird will stay,

And then——(But what I'm writing all this while

Is a fancy in my wild Ariosto style)—

And thus this little bird turns into me,

And you rush forward to me in ecstasy,