| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | And Then I Sat Me down | | By Gustaf Rosenhane (1619–1684) |
| | Translated by Edmund Gosse
AND then I sat me down, and gave the rein | |
| To my wild thoughts, till many a song that rang | |
| From boughs around where hidden warblers sang | |
| Recalled me from myself; then “Oh! in vain,” | |
| I said, “do these outpour the tender strain? | 5 |
| Can these sweet birds that with such airs harangue | |
| Their feathered loves, like me, feel sorrow’s pang? | |
| Ah! would that I, like them, had pinions twain! | |
| Straight would I fly to her whom I love best, | |
| Nor vainly warbling in the woodland sing, | 10 |
| But chirp my prayer, and preen my plumèd crest, | |
| And to this spot once more her beauty bring, | |
| And flutter round her flight with supple wing, | |
| And lead her to my secret leafy nest.” | | | | |
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