| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | To a Nightingale | | By William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649) |
| | | SWEET bird, that sing’st away the early hours, | |
| Of winters past or coming void of care, | |
| Well pleasèd with delights which present are, | |
| Fair seasons, budding sprays, sweet-smelling flowers; | |
| To rocks, to springs, to rills, from leafy bowers | 5 |
| Thou thy Creator’s goodness dost declare, | |
| And what dear gifts on thee He did not spare, | |
| A stain to human sense in sin that lowers, | |
| What soul can be so sick which by thy songs, | |
| Attired in sweetness, sweetly is not driven | 10 |
| Quite to forget earth’s turmoils, spites, and wrongs, | |
| And lift a reverent eye and thought to heaven! | |
| Sweet artless songster, thou my mind dost raise | |
| To airs of spheres, yes, and to angels’ lays. | | | | |
|
|
