Part 1 — DOVE'S NEST
Reading edition
"Sylvia, hush!" I said, "come here, Come see a fairy-tale, my dear! Tales told are good, tales seen are best!" The dove was brooding on the nest In the lowest crotch of the apple tree. I lifted her up so quietly, That when she could have touched the bird The soft gray creature had not stirred. It looked at us with a wild dark eye. But, "Birdie, fly!" was Sylvia's cry, Impatient Sylvia, "Birdie, fly." Ah, well: but when I touched the nest, The child recoiled upon my breast. Was ever such a startling thing? Sudden silver and purple wing, The dove was out, away, across, Struggling heart-break on the grass. And there in the cup within the tree Two milk-white eggs were ours to see. Was ever thing so pretty? Alack, "Birdie!" Sylvia cried, "come back!"
Joseph Russell Taylor [1868-1933]