On the Wing Christina Rossetti Once in a dream (for once I dreamed of you)     We stood together in an open field;     Above our heads two swift-winged pigeons wheeled,  Sporting at east and courting full in view:— When loftier still a broadening darkness flew,      Down-swooping, and a ravenous hawk revealed;     Too weak to fight, too fond to fly, they yield; So farewell life and love and pleasures new.  Then as their plumes fell fluttering to the ground,      Their snow-white plumage flecked with crimson drops,          I wept, and thought I turned towards you to weep:     But you were gone; while rustling hedgerow [...]