Page:Studies in Song - Swinburne (1880).djvu/178

2.

Far flickers the flight of the swallows,

Far flutters the weft of the grass
Spun dense over desolate hollows
More pale than the clouds as they pass:
Thick woven as the weft of a witch is
Round the heart of a thrall that hath sinned,
Whose youth and the wrecks of its riches
Are waifs on the wind.

3.

The pastures are herdless and sheepless,

No pasture or shelter for herds:
The wind is relentless and sleepless,
And restless and songless the birds;