Page:Wessex poems and other verses (IA wessexpoemsother00hard).pdf/109

 "At home is stocked provision, And to-night, without suspicion, We might bear it with us to a covert near: Such sin, to save a childing wife, would earn it Christ's remission, Though none forgive it here!"

While thus he, thinking, A little bird, quick drinking Among the crowfoot tufts the river bore, Was tangled in their stringy arms, and fluttered, well-nigh sinking, Near him, upon the moor.

He stepped in, reached, and seized it, And, preening, had released it But that a thought of Holy Writ occurred, And Signs Divine ere battle, till it seemed him Heaven had pleased it As guide to send the bird.