A QUIET curve of sombre brown water,
Flecked with duck-weed and dotted with leaves;
A low brick cottage, where shadows nestle
'Neath velvet edges of well-thatched eaves.

In front a space, with its gaudy dahlias
And solid shade of the branching lime,
Where, soberly gay, two boors are drinking
In the deep'ning gloom of the evening time.