A stag stands beside a stream in a forest. Grasses and lily pads line the banks. 3/4
page.
To a Deer in a Park.
Graceful, winsome creature,1
So fair of form and feature,2
With eyes as soft as sunshine,3
And dark as ebony ;4
I love to see thee flitting5
Athwart the green, or sitting6
Beneath the spreading tree.7
In every dainty curve and line—8
In slender limb and head’s decline—9
I see the grace of Nature ;10
And when thou flittest through the trees,11
Amid the sunshine and the breeze,12
Art image fair of beauty ;13
Or stooping o’er the little lake,14
Whereon no ripple comes to break15
The perfect shadow given ;16
Ah, then, my heart is full of thanks,17
That beauty moves through many ranks,18
And makes us dream of heaven ;19
For thou, sweet creature, meet’st the mood,20
O’er which the fairest dreams still brood21
Of sylvan bliss and glory22
In earliest Grecian story :23
Art shy, retiring, thinking not.24
Of thine own charms ; thy only thought25
Is to fulfil thy nature ;26
A message good to me hast brought,27
Thou graceful, winsome creature.28