SINGING of birds is over: the Curlew only Out by the bog-pools bids his mate to beware. Long sweet whistles under the rushes lonely Set to listen the dew-wet ears of a hare. Ears and eyes that turn backward. Only the plover Pipes and is silent; the singing of birds is done; Over the marriage-song and the song of a lover; Over the songs to the children feathered and flown. The wood-dove hidden in leafage mourning for ever, Because her children are Two, only Two, only Two, And the Wren and the Robin have Nine and Ten in the quiver. What will she do, the soft Wood-dove? What will she do? The Curlew calls love-calls and his mate will listen, The Wood-dove mourns and mourns and is never still. The hare hears; the dew on his ears a-glisten; He thinks it a whistling boy coming over the hill. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LEPRECAUN, OR THE FAIRY SHOEMAKER by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 86. AL-JAMI'H by EDWIN ARNOLD THE MARCH BEE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN NIGHT ON OUR LIVES by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT MESSENGERS by BORIS NIKOLAYEVICH BUGAYEV A MYSTERY by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON THE PINES by MARY HOPE CABANISS |