| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. To the Mavis | | By David Gray (1838–1861) |
| | | SWEET Mavis! at this cool delicious hour | |
| Of gloaming, when a pensive quietness | |
| Hushes the odorous air,—with what a power | |
| Of impulse unsubdued, thou dost express | |
| Thyself a spirit! While the silver dew | 5 |
| Holy as manna on the meadow falls, | |
| Thy song’s impassioned clarity, trembling through | |
| This omnipresent stillness, disenthralls | |
| The soul to adoration. First I heard | |
| A low, thick, lubric gurgle, soft as love, | 10 |
| Yet sad as memory, through the silence poured | |
| Like starlight. But the mood intenser grows, | |
| Precipitate rapture quickens, move on move | |
| Lucidly linked together, till the close. | | | | |
|
|
