XI.

Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west-- _Toll slowly._ And I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness,-- Round our restlessness, His rest.

_THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST._

So the dreams depart, So the fading phantoms flee, And the sharp reality Now must act its part.

WESTWOOD'S _Beads from a Rosary_

Little Ellie sits alone 'Mid the beeches of a meadow, By a stream-side on the grass, And the trees are showering down Doubles of their leaves in shadow On her shining hair and face.

She has thrown her bonnet by, And her feet she has been dipping In the shallow water's flow: Now she holds them nakedly In her hands, all sleek and dripping, While she rocketh to and fro.

Little Ellie sits alone, And the smile she softly uses Fills the silence like a speech While she thinks what shall be done, And the sweetest pleasure chooses For her future within reach.

Little Ellie in her smile Chooses--"I will have a lover Riding on a steed of steeds: He shall love me without guile, And to _him_ I will discover The swan's nest among the reeds.

"And the steed shall be red-roan, And the lover shall be noble, With an eye that takes the breath: And the lute he plays upon Shall strike ladies into trouble, As his sword strikes men to death.

"And the steed it shall be shod All in silver, housed in azure, And the mane shall swim the wind; And the hoofs along the sod Shall flash onward and keep measure, Till the shepherds look behind.

"But my lover will not prize All the glory that he rides in, When he gazes in my face: He will say, 'O Love, thine eyes Build the shrine my soul abides in, And I kneel here for thy grace!'