I DO not fear to own me kin To the glad clods in which spring flowers begin;Or to my brothers, the great trees, That speak with pleasant voices in the breeze, Loud talkers with the winds that pass;Or to my sister, the deep grass.
Of such I am, of such my body is, That thrills to reach its lips to kiss.
That gives and takes with wind and sun and rain And feels keen pleasure to the point of pain.
Of such are these, The brotherhood of stalwart trees, The humble family of flowers, That make a light of shadowy bowers Or star the edges of the bent:
They give and take sweet colour and sweet scent;They joy to shed themselves abroad;
And tree and flower and grass and sod Thrill and leap and live and sing With silent voices in the Spring.
Hence I not fear to yield my breath, Since all is still unchanged by death;Since in some pleasant valley I may be, Clod beside clod, or tree by tree, Long ages hence, with her I love this hour;And feel a lively joy to share With her the sun and rain and air, To taste her quiet neighbourhood As the dumb things of field and wood, The clod, the tree, and starry flower, Alone of all things have the power.
I AM LIKE ONE THAT FOR LONG DAYS HAD SATEI AM like one that for long days had sate, With seaward eyes set keen against the gale, On some lone foreland, watching sail by sail, The portbound ships for one ship that was late;And sail by sail, his heart burned up with joy, And cruelly was quenched, until at last One ship, the looked-for pennant at its mast, Bore gaily, and dropt safely past the buoy;And lo! the loved one was not there - was dead.
Then would he watch no more; no more the sea With myriad vessels, sail by sail, perplex His eyes and mock his longing. Weary head, Take now thy rest; eyes, close; for no more me Shall hopes untried elate, or ruined vex.
For thus on love I waited; thus for love Strained all my senses eagerly and long;Thus for her coming ever trimmed my song;Till in the far skies coloured as a dove, A bird gold-coloured flickered far and fled Over the pathless waterwaste for me;And with spread hands I watched the bright bird flee And waited, till before me she dropped dead.
O golden bird in these dove-coloured skies How long I sought, how long with wearied eyes I sought, O bird, the promise of thy flight!
And now the morn has dawned, the morn has died, The day has come and gone; and once more night About my lone life settles, wild and wide.