POETRY BY THE WAY-SIDE.

[ZaunköniG]

POETRY BY THE WAY-SIDE.

Wandering along the vision-haunted way,
One did I meet, whom straight my heart did know ;
But in strange seeming he was pleased to go,
And quaint, as by the forest-brook the jay ;

The leaf-hid brook, with one particular ray
That the sun gilds, and of his orbed glow
Gives thence suggestion to the sense ; e'en so
On mine the quick poetic spirit did play,

From a feather in the head of one who followed
A trade associate with the tortoise-shell,
Client of Mercury, through the towns and shires,

A rude A utolycus with hat rain-hollowed ;
And still, as droopt fantastically it fell,
The shows of things conformed to his desires .