Page:Beachy Head and Other Poems.pdf/82

74

Oh! then with how much tender care, The busy pair, Watch'd and provided for the panting brood! For then, the vagrant of the air, Soar'd not to meet the morning star, But, never from the nestlings far, Explor'd each furrow, every sod for food; While his more anxious partner tried From hostile eyes, the helpless group to hide; Attempting now, with labouring bill, to guide The enwreathing bindweed round the nest; Now joy'd to see the cornflower's azure crest Above it waving, and the cockle grow, Or poppies throw Their scarlet curtains round; While the more humble children of the ground,