Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | VI. Animate Nature | | The Heath-Cock | | Joanna Baillie (1762–1851) |
| | | GOOD morrow to thy sable beak | |
| And glossy plumage dark and sleek, | |
| Thy crimson moon and azure eye, | |
| Cock of the heath, so wildly shy: | |
| I see thee slyly cowering through | 5 |
| That wiry web of silvery dew, | |
| That twinkles in the morning air, | |
| Like casements of my lady fair. | |
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| A maid there is in yonder tower, | |
| Who, peeping from her early bower, | 10 |
| Half shows, like thee, her simple wile, | |
| Her braided hair and morning smile. | |
| The rarest things, with wayward will, | |
| Beneath the covert hide them still; | |
| The rarest things to break of day | 15 |
| Look shortly forth, and shrink away. | |
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| A fleeting moment of delight | |
| I sunned me in her cheering sight; | |
| As short, I ween, the time will be | |
| That I shall parley hold with thee. | 20 |
| Through Snowdon’s mist red beams the day, | |
| The climbing herd-boy chants his lay, | |
| The gnat-flies dance their sunny ring,— | |
| Thou art already on the wing. | | | | |
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