I.
O BROWN lark, loving cloud-land best
And sun-smit seas of sky,
Thee does a musical unrest
Drive to rise upward from thy nest
Far fathoms high.
II.
O fluid-fluting blackbird, keep
The midnight of thy wing
Close to my home where leaves grow deep,
Since where two lovers lie asleep
Thou lovest to sing.
Mortimer Collins.
DAWN.
DAWN, with flusht foot upon the mountain tops,
Stands beckoning to the Sun-god’s golden car,
While on her high clear brow the morning star
Grows fainter, as the silver-misty copse
And rosy river-bend and village white
Feel the strong shafts of light.
The tide of dreams has reached its utter ebb;
The joy of Dawn is in my Lady’s eyes,
Where at her window with a half-surprise
She sees the meadows meshed with fairy web,
And hears the happy skylark, far above,
Singing, I live! I love!
Mortimer Collins.
LOVE’S POWER.
THE fire is smouldering while the daylight wanes;
Rain taps impatient on the window-panes;
The waves roll high, and the cold wind complains.
The wind complains.
Reluctant start the embers to a blaze;
Among the ashy drifts the red coal plays;
In fairy rings the circling smoke delays.
The smoke delays.