( 20 )
Only that film,[1] which flutter'd on the grate,
Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing,
Methinks, it's motion in this hush of nature
Gives it dim sympathies with me, who live,
Making it a companionable form,
With which I can hold commune. Idle thought!
But still the living spirit in our frame,
That loves not to behold a lifeless thing,
Transfuses into all it’s own delights
It’s own volition, sometimes with deep faith,
And sometimes with fantastic playfulness.
Ah me! amus’d by no such curious toys
Of the self-watching subtilizing mind,
How often in my early school-boy days;
With most believing superstitious wish
Presageful, have I gaz'd upon the bars,
To watch the stranger there! and oft belike,
With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt
Of my sweet birthplace; and the old church-tower,
Whose bells, the poor man's only music, rang
- ↑ Only that film. In all parts of the kingdom these films are called strangers, and supposed to portend the arrival of some absent friend.
