Sonnet II On Robin Hood

The trees in Sherwood forest are old and good,--

The grass beneath them now is dimly green;

Are they deserted all? Is no young mien

With loose-slung bugle met within the wood:

No arrow found, -- foil'd of its antler'd food,--

Struck in the oak's rude side?  Is there nought seen,

To mark the revelries which there have been,--

In the sweet days of merry Robin Hood?

Go there, with Summer, and with evening,-- go

In the soft shadows like some wandering man,--

And thou shalt far amid the forest know

The archer men in green, with belt and bow,

Feasting on pheasant, river-fowl, and swan,

With Robin at their head, and Marian.

Sonnet 2. of 3, printed in "The Garden Of Florence" &c., 1821.