Or this account of the origin of the Kingfisher, from "Farewell to Poesy": It was the Rainbow gave thee birth, And left thee all her lovely hues; And, as her mother's name was Tears, So runs it in thy blood to choose For haunts the lonely pools, and keep In company with trees that weep. Or a fancy about the sound of rain from _Nature Poems_: I hear leaves drinking rain; I hear rich leaves on top Giving the poor beneath Drop after drop; 'Tis a sweet noise to hear Those green leaves drinking near. It plays an important part too in the poems upon other favourite themes, on a woman's hair, on her voice, on music. Such are "Sweet Music" and "A Maiden and her Hair" in _Nature Poems_: as well as "The Flood," from which I quote. It will be found in _Songs of Joy_: I thought my true love slept; Behind her chair I crept And pulled out a long pin; The golden flood came out, She shook it all about, With both our faces in. Ah! little wren I know Your mossy, small nest now A windy, cold place is: No eye can see my face, Howe'er it watch the place Where I half drown in bliss. A development of technique in the later work lends ease and precision to the poet's use of his instrument. Little faults of metre and of rhyme are corrected: banalities of phrase and crudities of thought almost disappear, so that the verse acquires a new grace. It gains, too, from a wider variety of form: for the verses may be as short as one foot, or as long as five: and there may be stanzas of only two lines, or anything up to eight. There are even pieces written in the closed couplet and in blank verse. But Mr Davies is by no means an innovator in his art, as so many of his contemporaries are. The variety we have noted is, after all, only a modification of traditional form and not a departure from it; and always as its basis, the almost constant unit is the iamb. Very rarely is any other measure adopted; and so well does the iamb suit the simple and direct nature of this work in thought, word and phrase, that one would not often alter it. One of the perfect examples of its fitness is in "The Battle," from _Nature Poems_: There was a battle in her face, Between a Lily and a Rose: My Love would have the Lily win And I the Lily lose. I saw with joy that strife, first one, And then the other uppermost; Until the Rose roused all its blood, And then the Lily lost. When she's alone, the Lily rules, By her consent, without mistake: But when I come that red Rose leaps To battle for my sake.