Page:The Poetical Works of William Collins (1830).djvu/134

48

ODE TO EVENING.

 

If aught of oaten stop, or pastoral song,
May hope, chaste Eve, to soothe thy modest ear,^[1]
Like thy own brawling springs,^[2]
Thy springs, and dying gales; 4

O nymph reserved, while now the bright-hair'd sun
Sits in yon western tent, whose cloudy skirts,
With brede ethereal wove,
O'erhang his wavy bed:

Now air is hush'd, save where the weak-eyed bat^[3]
With short shrill shriek flits by on leathern wing; 10
Or where the beetle winds
His small but sullen horn,

Variations.

1. Ver. 2. May hope, O pensive Eve, to soothe thine ear.
2. Ver. 3. Like thy own solemn springs,
3. Ver. 9. While air is hush'd, save where the weak-eyed bat: