Romance,
to nod and sing
With drow
sy head and fold ed wing
Among the
green leavesas they shake
Far down
within someshadowy lake,
To me a p
ainted paroquet
Hath been-
most familiar bird-
Taught me m
y alphabet to say,
To lisp my ve
ry earliest world
While in the wild wood I did lie,
A child—with a most knowing eye.
Of late, eter
nal condor years
So shake the
very Haven on high
With tumu
lt as they thunder by,
I have no time for idle cares
Through
gazing on the unquiet sky;
And whe
n an hour with calmer wings
Its dow
n upon my spirit flings,
Its down up
on my spirit fling
To whil eaway
—forbidden things—
My heart would fe
el to be a crime
Unless it trembled with t
he strings.