Page:Near nature's heart; a volume of verse (IA nearnaturesheart00jack).pdf/42



Hilarious bird, hast thou a soul, Now here, now there In tree and air, So free and fair? Thy tones rush forth a rounded whole, Inviting the heart to some sweet goal, Like poet rare, Beyond compare.

Hast thou a mind, a musical mind? Who answers "nay"? Or night or day, Thy tuneful lay Brings joy and grief; myself I find In my inmost soul left far behind; Yet I essay The wondrous way.

"Borrowed notes" they dub thy variation; Nor is that all In thy charmed call; I rise, though small, To laud thy rhythmic re-creation, Thy prompt and hearty liberation Of life notes new which me enthrall, Without man's pride, and fall.

I hear thee sing as Lark and Nightingale, Thy kindred sweet; Palm Warbler meet Thou dost repeat, And modest, tawny Veery of the vale; Thy music upward leads, and I inhale Incense replete, In thy retreat.

As in a dream I hear all tones combine In Love's embrace; And there I see thy top-most place, O Psyche of thy race!