That overhung a molehill large and round,

I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush

Sing hymns of rapture, while I drank the sound

With joy—and oft, an unintruding guest, 5

I watched her secret toils from day to day;

How true she warped the moss to form her nest,

And modelled it within with wood and clay.

And by and by, like heath-bells gilt with dew,

There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers, 10

Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue: