The Nightjar

We had found her lying as dead， but soft and warm，

Under the apple tree beside the old thatched wall.

Two days we kept her in a basket by the fire，

Fed her， and thought she well might live ？ till suddenly

I the very moment of most confiding hope

She arised herself all tense， qivered and drooped and died.

Tears sprang into my eyes- why not？ The heart of man

Soon sets itself to love a living companion，

The more so if by chance it asks some care of him.

And this one had the kind of loveliness that goes

Far deeper than the optic nerve- full fathom five

To the soul抯ocean cave， where Wonder and Reason

Tell their alternate dreams of how the world was made.

So wonderful she was-her wings the wings of night

But powdered here and therewith tiny golden clouds

And wave-line markings like sea-ripples on the sand.

O how I wish I might never forget that bird-

Never！

But even now， like all beauty of earth，

She is fading from me into the dusk of Time.