EVENING.

Kate! if e'er thy light foot lingers

On the lawn, when up the fells

Steals the Dark, and fairy fingers

Close unseen the pimpernels:

When, his thighs with sweetness laden,

From the meadow comes the bee,

And the lover and the maiden

Stand beneath the trysting tree: -

Lingers on, till stars unnumber'd

Tremble in the breeze-swept tarn,

And the bat that all day slumber'd

Flits about the lonely barn;

And the shapes that shrink from garish

Noon are peopling cairn and lea;

And thy sire is almost bearish

If kept waiting for his tea: -

And the screech-owl scares the peasant

As he skirts some churchyard drear;

And the goblins whisper pleasant

Tales in Miss Rossetti's ear;

Importuning her in strangest,

Sweetest tones to buy their fruits: -

O be careful that thou changest,

On returning home, thy boots.