WOODCOCK VESPERS 249 



I hope the owl will not mind; but as the 

 wheels come near he leaves his perch, flies 

 directly before my face (with no more noise 

 than if a feather were falling through the 

 air), and disappears in the forest opposite. 



Two good birds I have listened to. The 

 evening has been kind to me. Two birds ? 

 nay, two poets : a poet in a frenzy, and a 

 poet dreaming. 



