XIX 



TO A TRESPASS SIGN 



Scene, A Wood. An old man with a fishing-rod 

 speaks : — 



What strange object is this which I 

 behold, incongruous in its staring white- 

 ness of fresh paint and black lettering, 

 its straightness of lines and abrupt irreg- 

 ularity amid the soft tints and graceful 

 curves of this sylvan scene ? As I live, 

 a trespass sign ! 



Thou inanimate yet most impertinent 

 thing, dumb yet commanding me with 

 most imperative words to depart hence, 

 how dost thou dare forbid my entrance 

 upon what has so long been my own, 

 even as it is the birds' and beasts* and 

 fishes', not by lease or title deed, but 

 of natural right ? Hither from time im- 

 memorial have they come at will and so 

 departed at no man's behest, as have I 

 since the happy days when a barefoot 

 boy I cast my worm-baited hook among 

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