 | The poet, the fool and the faeries |  |
158
AFTER DEATH
The forest stirred; and then a bird
Sang; and its song enspelled
The silence like some magic word
By which the heart's compelled.
Sang; and its song enspelled
The silence like some magic word
By which the heart's compelled.
Among the woods, with interludes,
Deep-hidden in the green,
It sang to little sisterhoods
Of wildflowers dimly seen.
Deep-hidden in the green,
It sang to little sisterhoods
Of wildflowers dimly seen.
It seemed a flute, a faery flute,
Of one whom love compels,
Who pleads, Faun-like, his wildwood suit
In plaintive syllables.
Of one whom love compels,
Who pleads, Faun-like, his wildwood suit
In plaintive syllables.
And I, who heard its golden word,
Remembered once again
How long ago I'd heard the bird
When life knew less of pain.
Remembered once again
How long ago I'd heard the bird
When life knew less of pain.
How then its note seemed less remote;
And, in mysterious reach,
Though farther than a dream may float,
It with my soul held speech.
And, in mysterious reach,
Though farther than a dream may float,
It with my soul held speech.
159
I understood. And through the wood
Its song went like a gleam,
Taking with love the solitude,
The human heart with dream.
Its song went like a gleam,
Taking with love the solitude,
The human heart with dream.
It passed away with its wild lay:
And years have gone since then:—
I heard the bird again to-day
Within the selfsame glen.
And years have gone since then:—
I heard the bird again to-day
Within the selfsame glen.
In like event it came and went
With golden melody:
And, mother, oh, the things it meant
To the sad heart in me!
With golden melody:
And, mother, oh, the things it meant
To the sad heart in me!
| The poet, the fool and the faeries | |