 | The Poet and Nature and The Morning Road |  |
199
THE AMERICAN CUCKOO.
I.
Hark to the beatOf strident-humming insects in the heat!
The pale-pink soapwort leans its anxious ears
Against the Summer, listening for the rain;
And where the vervain, like a face, appears,
With eyes a-strain,
To see the Wind, there is a voice that nears,
Whispering of storm again.
II.
It says, “The wayWas long and hot o'er fields of corn and hay,
And orchards, strewn with ruined fruit, that smelled
Of drouth; and vineyards where the filmy blue
Of grapes hung bubbles, hornet-stung, unswelled;
And gardens too,
Where worms were busy and huge spiders held
Sway in the webs they drew.
200
III.
“So when I reachedA hollow of these hills, where woods had pleached
A cave to rest in, there I lay me down
And slept, until upon a bough there cried
A voice, that said, 'Awake! the fields are brown
With drouth, and all the creeks and springs are dried.
Put on thy gown
Of clouds, fringed blue with rain, and seek outside
Welcome from farm and town.
IV.
“'Go! take the roadInto the world on which the sun has glowed
Fiercely for days, withering up the land;
And, trailing wet along the dusty lane,
Cover the sun's face with thy cooling hand;
And sweep thy train
Of moisture over all, and take thy stand
By Fever's window pane.
V.
“‘'Till he shall seeHis reign is over, and glad flower and tree
Laugh; and the cattle in the fields rejoice.—
Wake from thy sleep, thou sluggard! rise and go
Into the land and slay Heat's locust voice!
Let rivers flow,
And then above the sunset's beauty poise
The glory of thy bow!’”
201
VI.
It was a bird,God's messenger, the cuckoo, that I heard.
The wind arose, put on its cloak and came—
And every flower, that leaned an ear and heard,
Danced; and the skies put off their garb of flame,
Shouting a word
Of blessing, 'mid which, calling its own name,
Rejoiced a jubilant bird.
| The Poet and Nature and The Morning Road | |