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...FAREWELL TO MALTA by GEORGE GORDON BYRON OBERON'S FEAST by ROBERT HERRICK OCTOBER by MARIE DAVIES WARREN BECKNER PSALM 27. DOMINIUS ILLUMINATO by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE I'M DYING, COMRADE by MARY H. C. BOOTH F.B.C.; CHANCELLORSVILLE, MAY 3, 1863 by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER |