Graham R. Thomson (Rosamund Marriott Watson) (1860-1911). A Summer Night and Other Poems (1891). II. Two Songs. Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

A Summer Night and Other Poems (1891)
II. Two Songs

By Graham R. Thomson (Rosamund Marriott Watson) (1860–1911)


THE SUN is gone from the valleys,
The air breathes fresh and chill;
On the barn-roof yellow with lichen
A robin is singing shrill.

Like a tawny leaf is his bosom,	5
Like a dead leaf is his wing;
He is glad of the coming winter
As the thrush is glad of the spring.

The sound of a shepherd’s piping
Comes down from a distant fold,	10
Like the ripple of running water,
As tuneless, and sweet, and cold.

The two songs mingle together;
Like and unlike are they,
For one sounds tired and plaintive,	15
And one rings proud and gay.

They take no thought of their music,
The bird and the shepherd lad;
But the bird-voice thrills with rapture,
And the human note is sad.	20