| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | II. To a Brooklet | | By David Gray (1838–1861) |
| | | O DEEP unlovely brooklet, moaning slow | |
| Through moorish fen in utter loneliness! | |
| The partridge cowers beside thy loamy flow | |
| In pulseful tremor, when with sudden press | |
| The huntsman fluskers through the rustled heather. | 5 |
| In March thy sallow buds from vermeil shells | |
| Break satin-tinted, downy as the feather | |
| Of moss-chat that among the purplish bells | |
| Breasts into fresh new life her three unborn. | |
| The plover hovers o’er thee, uttering clear | 10 |
| And mournful-strange his human cry forlorn. | |
| While wearily, alone, and void of cheer | |
| Thou guid’st thy nameless waters from the fen, | |
| To sleep unsunned in an untrampled glen. | | | | |
|
|
