Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.
John E. Logan b. 1852A Dead Singer
F
Thou liest sadly low,
No more the purple vetch and star-eyed daisies
Thy mating hymn shall know.
Shall bend her dainty ear,
When nigh thou fliest, and her petals quiver
With maiden joy to hear.
Imperial thistle tops,
And intertwining woodbine, thickly clustered
With tendrils of wild hops.
O’er golden, sunlit sheaves;
No more to catch, within the shady hollow,
The dew from spangled leaves.
Sipping its fragrant fee;
No more to chase, across the billowy clover,
The velvet-coated bee.
Round thy once tuneful throat
And pulseless bosom, where a deathly tincture
Dyes thy soft feathery coat?
With tender chicks, your way,
To sunnier southern fields, when autumn weather
Chills the short northern day.
That thrilled thy fragile breast,—
There is no more for thee, but dead hereafter
Of unbegotten rest.