Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/38

The Dreamer wanders forth That, lying on my bed, I dreamed
Dull night was passed and dawning beamed,
And, leaping from the couch, my face
I washed in haste, the night to chase,90
Put on my shoes, then straightway took
A silver bodkin from a book
Or bodkin-case, and with a thread
Engarnished it, then forthwith sped
From out the town, with will to hear
The woodland fowl with piping clear
Give welcome to the season new.
And as I went the cords I drew
Basting my sleeves, all joyous I
To hear the birds sing merrily100
Among the spring-tide’s burgeoning trees.
Moved gently by the fragrant breeze.
So to a river came I near
Whose pleasant murmur struck mine ear,
And soothing, past all words, did seem
The rippling music of the stream.
From out a moss-grown rocky bank
In bubbling waves, that rose and sank
With changing force, the water cool
Fell clear and bright, until a pool110
It formed, meandering o’er the plain
In volume less than rolls the Seine,
But broader spreading as I ween.
Never the eye of man hath seen
A fairer sight than that which I
Now gazed upon so rapturously.
Awhile I stood, then in the wave,
Glistening and fresh, I stooped to lave