1828-1876.
_DAYRISE AND SUNSET._
When Spring casts all her swallows forth
Into the blue and lambent air,
When lilacs toss their purple plumes
And every cherry-tree grows fair,--
Through fields with morning tints a-glow
I take my rod and singing go.
Where lilies float on broad green leaves
Below the ripples of the mill,
When the white moth is hovering
In the dim sky so hushed and still,
I watch beneath the pollard ash
The greedy trout leap up and splash.
Or down where golden water flowers
Are wading in the shallow tide,
While still the dusk is tinged with rose
Like a brown cheek o'erflushed with pride--
I throw the crafty fly and wait;
Watching the big trout eye the bait.
It is the lover's twilight-time,
And there 's a magic in the hour,
But I forget the sweets of love
And all love's tyranny and power,
And with my feather-hidden steel
Sigh but to fill my woven creel.
Then upward darkling through the copse
I push my eager homeward way,
Through glades of drowsy violets
That never see the golden day.
Yes! while the night comes soft and slow
I take my rod and singing go.
[Illustration: Full-page Plate]
_THE THREE TROOPERS._