Revealing, on its conscious countenance,

The shadows of the clouds that float above:—

Upon its central stone the heron sits

Stirless,—as in the wave its counterpart,—

Looking, with quiet eye, towards the shore

Of dark-green copse-wood, dark, save, here and there,

Where spangled with the broom's bright aureate flowers.—

The blue-winged sea-gull, sailing placidly

Above his landward haunts, dips down alert

His plumage in the waters, and, anon,