THE POET AND THE CAGED TURTLEDOVE 265 THE POET AND THE CAGED TURTLEDOVE* Composed 1830.-Published 1835 [Written at Rydal Mount. This dove was one of a pair that had been given to my daughter by our excellent friend, Miss Jewsbury,t who went to India with her husband, Mr. Fletcher, where she died of cholera. The dove survived its mate many years, and was killed, to our great sorrow, by a neighbour's cat that got in at the window and dragged it partly out of the cage. These verses were composed extempore, to the letter, in the Terrace Summer-house before spoken of. It was the habit of the bird to begin cooing and murmuring whenever it heard me making my verses.-I. F.] One of the "Poems of the Fancy."-ED. As often as I murmur here My half-formed melodies, Straight from her osier mansion near, Though silent as a leaf before, I rather think, the gentle Dove Is murmuring a reproof, Have dared to keep aloof; That I, a Bard of hill and dale, Have carolled, fancy free,‡ 5 ΙΟ 15 * In a MS. letter to Sir George Beaumont I find the poem entitled "Twenty_minutes Exercise on the Terrace last night, but Scene within doors."-ED. + Compare the Sonnet beginning ED. While Anna's peers and early playmates tread (p. 168.) If such thy meaning, O forbear, 'Mid grove, and by the calm fireside, 20 PRESENTIMENTS Composed 1830.-Published 1835 [Written at Rydal Mount.-I. F.] One of the "Poems of the Imagination.”—ED. PRESENTIMENTS! they judge not right Retire in fear of shame; All heaven-born Instincts shun the touch Such privilege ye claim. The tear whose source I could not guess, The deep sigh that seemed fatherless, And now, unforced by time to part And venture on your praise. What though some busy foes to good, Lurk near you-and combine 5 ΙΟ 15 PRESENTIMENTS How oft from you, derided Powers! 267 20 The bosom-weight, your stubborn gift, 25 Shall vanish, if ye please, Like morning mist: and, where it lay, The spirits at your bidding play In gaiety and ease. Star-guided contemplations move Through space, though calm, not raised above Prognostics that ye rule; The naked Indian of the wild, But who can fathom your intents, A subtle smell that Spring unbinds, The laughter of the Christmas hearth 30 35 40 45 * Compare Robert Browning's Bishop Blougram's Apology, ll. 191-197 there's a sunset-touch, A fancy from a flower-bell, some one's death, A chorus-ending from Euripides,- And that's enough for fifty hopes and fears As old and new at once as Nature's self, To rap and knock and enter in our soul, Take hands and dance there, a fantastic ring, etc. ED. And daily, in the conscious breast, Your visitations are a test And exercise of love. When some great change gives boundless scope To an exulting Nation's hope, Oft, startled and made wise By your low-breathed interpretings, The simply-meek foretaste the springs Ye daunt the proud array of war, As sail hath been unfurled ; 'Tis said, that warnings ye dispense, Emboldened by a keener sense; That men have lived for whom, With dread precision, ye made clear The hour that in a distant year Should knell them to the tomb. Unwelcome insight! Yet there are While on that isthmus which commands God, who instructs the brutes to scent Whose wisdom fixed the scale 50 |