| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| Robert Bridges. b. 1844 |
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| 834. Nightingales |
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| BEAUTIFUL must be the mountains whence ye come, | |
| And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams, wherefrom | |
| Ye learn your song: | |
| Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there, | |
| Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air | 5 |
| Bloom the year long! | |
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| Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams: | |
| Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams, | |
| A throe of the heart, | |
| Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound, | 10 |
| No dying cadence nor long sigh can sound, | |
| For all our art. | |
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| Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men | |
| We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then, | |
| As night is withdrawn | 15 |
| From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May, | |
| Dream, while the innumerable choir of day | |
| Welcome the dawn. | |
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