Doe and Hope

Description

The pair of 1940s period preserved British owl specimens, being a short eared owl (Asio flammeus) with outstretched wings, and a tawny owl (Strix aluco) perched peacefully, each rod mounted on a pair of five foot high 1920s period oak newel posts of neo-classical design with scroll finials.

To The Owl
by Robert Burns

Sad bird of night, what sorrows call thee forth,
To vent thy plaints thus in the mid-night hour?
Is it some blast that gathers in the north,
Threatening to nip the verdure of thy bower?

Is it, sad oul, that Autumn strips the shade,
And leaves thee here, unshelter'd and forlorn?
Or fear that Winter will thy nest invade?
Or friendless Melancholy birds thee mourn?

Shout out, lone bird, from all the feather'd train,
To tell thy sorrows to th' unheeding gloom
No friend to pity when thou dost complain,
Grief all thy thought, and solitude thy home.

Sing on, sad mourner! I will bless thy strain,
And pleas'd in sorrow listen to thy song
Sing on, sad mourner to the night complain,
While the long echo wafts thy notes along.

Is beauty less, when down the glowing cheek
Sad, piteous tears, in native sorrows fall?
Less kind the heart when anguish bids it break?
Less happy he who lists to Pity's call?

Ah no, sad owl! nor is thy voice less sweet,
That Sadness tunes it, and that Grief is there
That Spring's gay notes unskill'd, thou canst repeat
That Sorrow bids thee to the gloom repair.

Nor that the treble songsters of the day
Are quite estrang'd, sad bird of night! from thee
Nor that the thrush deserts the ev'ning spray,
When darkness calls thee from thy reverie-

From some old tow'r, thy melancholy dome,
While the grey walls, and desert solitudes,
Return each note, responsive to the gloom
Of ivied coverts and surrounding woods

There hooting, I will list more pleas'd to thee
Than ever lover to the nightingale
Or drooping wretch, opress'd with misery,
Lending his ear to some condoling tale.