| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | A South Coast Idyll | | By Rosamund Marriott Watson (1860–1911) |
| | | BENEATH these sun-warm’d pines among the heather, | |
| A white goat, bleating, strains his hempen tether, | |
| A purple stain dreams on the broad blue plain, | |
| The waters and the west wind sing together. | |
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| The soft grey lichen creeps o’er ridge and hollow, | 5 |
| Where swift and sudden skims the slim sea swallow; | |
| The hid cicalas play their viols all the day, | |
| Merry of heart, although they may not follow. | |
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| Beyond yon slope, out-wearied with his reaping, | |
| With vine-bound brows, young Daphnis lies a-sleeping; | 10 |
| Stolen from the sea on feet of ivory, | |
| The white nymphs whisper, through the pine stems peeping. | |
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| We hear their steps, yet turn to seek them never, | |
| Nor scale the sunny slope in fond endeavour; | |
| It may not be, too swiftly would they flee | 15 |
| Our world-stain’d gaze and come no more for ever. | |
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| Pan, Pan is piping in the noontide golden, | |
| Let us lie still, as in a dream enfolden, | |
| Hear by the sea the airs of Arcady, | |
| And feel the wind of tresses unbeholden. | 20 | | | |
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