II—Down-a-down
Foxes peeped from out their dens,1
Day grew pale and olden ;2
Blackbirds, willow-warblers, wrens,3
Staunched their voices golden.4
High, oh high, from the opal sky,5
Shouting against the dark,6
“ Why, why, why must the day go by ? ”7
Fell a passionate lark.8
But the cuckoos beat their brazen gongs,9
Sounding, sounding so ;10
And the nightingales poured in starry songs11
A galaxy below.12
Slowly tolling the vesper bell13
Ushered the stately night.14
Down-a-down in a hawthorn dell15
A boy and a girl and love’s delight.16