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The bird and the bell, with other poems

Cranch, Christopher Pearse (1813-1892)

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[section]
  
[As one who in some cellar crypt has kept]
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THE BIRD AND THE BELL
  
[prologue]
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III.
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VII.
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LXV.
  
THE THREE MUSES.
  
THE SHADOWED RIVER.
  
NOVEMBER TREES.
  
THE FLOWER AND THE BEE.
  
THE CATARACT ISLE.
  
IN THE GARDEN.
  
IN THE PINE WOODS.
  
LUNA THROUGH A LORGNETTE.
  
IN THE PALAIS ROYAL GARDEN.
  
CORNUCOPIA.
  
A FRIEND.
  
THE AUTUMN RAIN.
  
SPIRITS IN PRISON.
  
BLONDEL.
  
THE OLD DAYS AND THE NEW.
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WHY!
 1. 
I.
 2. 
II.
  
THROUGH THE FIELDS TO ST. PETER'S.
  
MARION DALE.
  
VEILS.
  
THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.
  
ATALANTA.
  
AL HASSAN'S SECRET.
  
MY OLD PALETTE.
  
THE BOBOLINKS.
  
THE BOBOLINKS.
  
CRETE.
  
J. R. L.
  
SEA SHADOWS.
  
THE MOUNTAIN PATH.
  
BIRD LANGUAGE.
  
THE CHANGING YEAR.
  
SOFT, BROWN, SMILING EYES.
  
THE DREAM OF PILATE'S WIFE.
  
THE DISPUTE OF THE SEVEN DAYS.
  
A THRUSH IN A GILDED CAGE.
  
UNDER THE SKYLIGHT.
  
I IN THEE, AND THOU IN ME.
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TO THE MEMORY OF MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI.
 1. 
I.
 2. 
II.
 3. 
III.
 4. 
IV.
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V.
 6. 
VI.
 7. 
VII.
  
IAPIS.
  
THE WORKSHOP AND THE BRONZE.
  
THE EVENING PRIMROSE.
  
IN A CHURCH.
  
DECEMBER.
  
A CHINESE STORY.
  
A SONG OF HOME.
  
A SPRING-GROWL.
  
WAITING BY THE SEA.
  
SHELLING PEAS.
  
LOUIS NAPOLEON.
  
BY THE SHORE OF THE RIVER.
  
THE AMERICAN PANTHEON.
  
IN THE FOREST OF FONTAINEBLEAU.
  
A DAY OF MEMORIES.
  
THE GUEST.
  
OCTOBER.
  
TO A HALF-FRIEND.
  
MUSIC.
  
COMPENSATION.
  
A BATTLE OF THE ELEMENTS.
  
MEMORIAL HALL.
  
DREAM-LIFE.
  
THE CENTURY AND THE NATION.
  
THE LAY OF THRYM; OR, THE HAMMER RECOVERED.
  
MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI.
  
ON RE-READING TENNYSON'S PRINCESS.
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SONNETS.
  
THE HIGHER LAW.
  
CIRCUMSTANCE.
  
SHAKESPEARE.
  
THE GARDEN.
  
THE GARDEN (CONTINUED).
  
TO G. W. C.
  
TO W. W. S.
  
TO W. W. S.
  
TO O. B. F.
  
TO O. B. F. (CONTINUED.)
  
YOUTH AND AGE.
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POEMS OF THE WAR.
  
THE BURIAL OF THE FLAG.
  
THE ROSE OF DEATH.
  
NOVEMBER 8TH, 1864.
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SONNETS FOR THE TIMES.
 1. 
I. THE DARK TOWER.
 2. 
II. DELIVERANCE.
 3. 
III. THE ABOLITIONISTS.
 4. 
IV. THE DAWN OF PEACE.
 5. 
V. THE DEATH-BLOW.
 6. 
VI. THE MARTYR.
 7. 
VII. OUR COUNTRY.

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123

THE BOBOLINKS.

And noon is hot, and barn-roofs gleam
White in the pale blue distance,
I hear the saucy minstrels still
In chattering persistence.
When Eve her domes of opal fire
Piles round the blue horizon,
Or thunder rolls from hill to hill
A Kyrie Eleison,
Still merriest of the merry birds,
Your sparkle is unfading;—
Pied harlequins of June,—no end
Of song and masquerading.
What cadences of bubbling mirth,
Too quick for bar and rhythm!
What ecstasies, too full to keep
Coherent measure with them!
O could I share, without champagne
Or muscadel, your frolic,
The glad delirium of your joy,
Your fun un-apostolic,
124

Your drunken jargon through the fields,
Your bobolinkish gabble,
Your fine Anacreontic glee,
Your tipsy reveller's babble!
Nay, let me not profane such joy
With similes of folly;
No wine of earth could waken songs
So delicately jolly!
O boundless self-contentment, voiced
In flying air-born bubbles!
O joy that mocks our sad unrest,
And drowns our earth-born troubles!
Hope springs with you: I dread no more
Despondency and dulness;
For Good Supreme can never fail,
That gives such perfect fulness.
The life that floods the happy fields
With song and light and color
Will shape our lives to richer states,
And heap our measures fuller.
1866.
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