Carol and Cadence :: :: University of Virginia Library

Ye, that demi-spirits are,
Angels of our nether air,
From the far
Distance of the None-knows-where
Flying, faring here and there,
Dear o'er all you are to me
For your fashions fair and free
And for that you come, meseems,
From the country of my dreams,
From the worlds 'twixt star and star,
Where the souls of poets dwell,
Bow'red in beds of asphodel,
Till the wave of Birth resurgent bear them over Being's bar.

Birds, meseemeth, you the link
Are betwixten Heaven and man,
On the brink
Of the lands Elysian
Hovering, since the world began,
In the spheres crepuscular,
Hearkening, through the gates ajar,
To the angels' carol sweet
In the Golden City's street,
Till, your lesson learnt, you sink
Down to this our earth of sorrow
And with echoes, which you borrow,
Faint, yet fair, of Heaven's music give our ravished ears to drink.

Nay, whilst hearkening to your song,
As you pipe on tree and thatch,
Sweet and strong,
Now and then I think to catch,
From afar as 'twere, some snatch
Of the music that the spheres
Make for other-worldly ears;
And the endeavour what you teach
In our tedious earthly speech
Of Heaven's echoes to prolong,
Faint and failing though it be,
Cheers the sorry soul in me,
Heartens me to live and labour in this world of woe and wrong.

So forever blesséd be,
Singing spirits of our skies,
Birds, of me
And of all men enough wise
Who your pleasance are to prize,
That to this our world of night
Snatches bear of love and light,
With your flitting and your tune,
From the spheres beyond the moon!
Blest and honoured still be ye,
Who to our remembrance bring,
With your carol and your wing,
That which passing Life and Death is and which else forgot had we!