SONNET.
Once in a dream (for once I dreamed of you)
         We stood together in an open field;
         Above our heads two swift-winged pigeons wheeled,
Sporting at ease and courting full in view.
When loftier still a broadening darkness flew,
         Down-swooping, and a ravenous hawk revealed;
         Too weak to fight, too fond to fly, they yield;
So farewell life and love and pleasures new.
Then, as their plumes fell fluttering to the ground,
        Their snow-white plumage flecked with crimson drops,
                 I wept, and thought I turned towards you to weep:
         But you were gone; while rustling hedgerow tops
Bent in a wind which bore to me a sound
                 Of far-off piteous bleat of lambs and sheep.