PRELUDE OFTEN in the peaceful night-time, From my meerschaum's chestnut bowl; Of wrongs, and hates, and sorrows, B Then, in mine ear, with dulcet notes, And the Winter's discord changes To the harmony of Spring: And while those twin birds warble Remembrance and Hope The blue smoke whirls and eddies, Like a fairy zoetrope. Old Odin owned two ravens, Of rippling streams, and purple hills, Of an old friend's witty tale; Of emerald waves that flash, and break, And drench the bellying sail; Of dear old homes, and mossy woods, Of sweet-breath'd lowing kine; Of orchards ripe with ruddy fruit, And lanes of eglantine; |