| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | IV. The Forest | | By Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885) |
| | | I LOVE the forest; I could dwell among | |
| That silent people, till my thoughts upgrew | |
| In nobly ordered form, as to my view | |
| Rose the succession of that lofty throng. | |
| The mellow footstep on a ground of leaves | 5 |
| Formed by the slow decay of numerous years, | |
| The couch of moss, whose growth alone appears | |
| Beneath the fir’s inhospitable eaves, | |
| The chirp and flutter of some single bird, | |
| The rustle in the brake,—what precious store | 10 |
| Of joys have these on poets’ hearts conferred? | |
| And then at times to send one’s own voice out, | |
| In the full frolic of one startling shout, | |
| Only to feel the after-stillness more. | | | | |
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