Edmund William Gosse

An Invitation

COME to the river-bank with me;
For there are plumed ferns of crescent green,
And in the wine-dark pools are seen
The crimson-spotted trout.
Hush! hush! move through the brake most silently,
Vex with no loud unhallow'd shout
The holy secrecy of this sweet glade,
And you shall see
The dipper rush with sudden flash, and fade
Into the woodland screen;
Nor shall you by your presence make afraid
The kingfisher, who looks down dreamily
At his own shadow gorgeously array'd.