Presentiment-is that long Shadow-on the Lawn-
Indicatives that Suns go down-
The Notice to the startled Grass
That Darkness-is about to pass-
Indicatives that Suns go down-
The Notice to the startled Grass
That Darkness-is about to pass-
(F.487/J.764)
[1] Presentiment:: foreboding, a notice of something bad to happen. long shadow:: shadow of the sun-bird.
[2] Suns:: sun-birds; the plural form is a hint.
[3] Grass:: grasshopper.
[4] Darkness:: misfortune.
On the banks of the Guiana rivers there is a bird named by the English Sun-bird, . . . Its food consists of flies and other insects, which it seizes just as the heron does a fish or frog, by approaching close to them and then darting its beak at them so quickly that the prey has no time to escape. . . . Its generic name is derived from the great size of the tail, a character not very common among the birds to which it is allied. ─ A Popular History of Birds (1855)