For the longer draft poems to which Turner’s verses belong, see Introduction to the sketchbook. Finberg did not transcribe the verses on this leaf, an alternative version of those on folios 13 verso and 55 (
D06746,
D06828). See note to folio 13 verso for comment. The reading given here was first made by Rosalind Mallord Turner for the 1990 Tate exhibition:
O gentle Spring yet [with inserted] renovating fire
Snatch from Twickenhams shore the tuneful reed
Wove with the Laurel crown the Poets mead
Alexis reed
To trip responsive cadence to his Lyre
In Summers ardent blush properly give
Thy many blossoms shield with generous care
While Phebus pours [around inserted] the sultry glare
In thy soft breezes let his verses live
Thy nodding poppies Autumn kindly weave
O Benefactress of the passing year
those strings have [often inserted trembled with thy care
Check not their sweetness with the falling leaf
David Blayney Brown
March 2007
