Cylchgronau Cymru

XXXI THE MAGPIE BIDS HIM HAVE DONE WITH LOVE As I lay sick for a girl's sake, Shaping rhymes in a green brake, Over and over my love-lay Carefully conning, on a day 5 When clear-skied April was yet young, All about me was birds' song: From close covert the nightingale, And fortressed deep in his leafy pale The blackbird (poet of the wildwood he), 10 And pouring forth from a tall tree His golden notes in a wild rush, Presaging rain, sang the thrush; And the lark in rapturous mood (The wise-tongued bird, with the brown hood) 15 Soaring up in an ecstasy With an ode of praise to the wide sky; Far he climbed in royal state From the naked earth to heaven's gate. I, the laureate of ladies' love, 20 Happily lay in my green grove, My worn heart busy with memory And the soul within me fresh and free; Such joy I had but to view The lusty trees bedecked anew 25 And vine and wheat springing again, Refreshed with dew and the following rain,