Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
The MotherSara Coleridge (18021852)
F
The youngling heifer bleeds and dies;
Her life-blood issuing forth amain,
While wreaths of incense climb the skies.
Thro’ shadowy grove and lightsome glade;
Her footmarks on the yielding ground
Will prove what anxious quest she made.
She visits oft with eager look;
In restless movements wastes the day,
And fills with cries each neighb’ring nook.
Where purest waters softly gleam;
But ne’er a leaf or blade she crops,
Nor couches by the gliding stream.
Her vainly searching eyes engage;
No pleasant fields relieve her care,
No murmuring streams her grief assuage.