 | The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley |  |
WHAT THE BIRD SINGS
Summer bird why dost thou linger
In the blooming hawthorn spray?
Thou the centre and the singer
Of the deep enamelled May!
In the blooming hawthorn spray?
Thou the centre and the singer
Of the deep enamelled May!
Carol out thy close of splendour—
Climax of melodious sounds,
Till the marriage chorus tender
From a dozen nests resounds.
Climax of melodious sounds,
Till the marriage chorus tender
From a dozen nests resounds.
As the year grows crisp and crisper,
Blows the musk-rose most divine,
And there floats ambrosial whisper
From the ringdove in the pine.
Blows the musk-rose most divine,
And there floats ambrosial whisper
From the ringdove in the pine.
Like a host in midnight shrouded
Labyrinths of pine advance,
Gloomy orders ranked and crowded
With innumerable lance.
Labyrinths of pine advance,
Gloomy orders ranked and crowded
With innumerable lance.
Give me glimpses how thy meaning
To the listening woods is told,
Mighty tides of concord streaming
From a pipe of liquid gold.
To the listening woods is told,
Mighty tides of concord streaming
From a pipe of liquid gold.
My dull ear can never capture
Half the import of thy strain,
Pathos widening into rapture,
Pleasure sharpening into pain,
Half the import of thy strain,
Pathos widening into rapture,
Pleasure sharpening into pain,
439
Welcome to expanding nature,
When the balmy hours' caress
Fills with love each breathing creature,
Blessing as the angels bless.
When the balmy hours' caress
Fills with love each breathing creature,
Blessing as the angels bless.
Doth a moss-lined nest in lonely
Bough secluded, draw thy wing,
Where she waits, thy bird-love, only
Waiting thee in all the spring?
Bough secluded, draw thy wing,
Where she waits, thy bird-love, only
Waiting thee in all the spring?
Build the walls and thatch the cover
Where the richest roses hang:
She shall sit and watch her lover,
Singing as he never sang,
Where the richest roses hang:
She shall sit and watch her lover,
Singing as he never sang,
Singing how the balmy season
Sheds the dewdrop's pearly shower,
Telling Love the only reason
Which unsheathes the golden flower,
Sheds the dewdrop's pearly shower,
Telling Love the only reason
Which unsheathes the golden flower,
As the lapse of silver fountains
Chimes among the braes of fern,
When the flakes of snow-fed mountains
Melt and roll a louder burn.
Chimes among the braes of fern,
When the flakes of snow-fed mountains
Melt and roll a louder burn.
Peace and pleasure, love and passion,
Joy in sun and zephyr's kiss,
Thou in no uncertain fashion
Canst, O Bird, interpret this.
Joy in sun and zephyr's kiss,
Thou in no uncertain fashion
Canst, O Bird, interpret this.
I believe this powerful measure,
As the incarnate voice of spring,
Moves the blooms to ope their treasure
And expands each petal-wing.
As the incarnate voice of spring,
Moves the blooms to ope their treasure
And expands each petal-wing.
I believe the buds in slumber
Hear thy voice and heed thy call,
And that bluebells without number
Pave the woods where thy notes fall.
Hear thy voice and heed thy call,
And that bluebells without number
Pave the woods where thy notes fall.
440
Rear thy brood in safe seclusion,
Till beyond the nest they range,
Happy in thy bird delusion
That this spring-tide cannot change.
Till beyond the nest they range,
Happy in thy bird delusion
That this spring-tide cannot change.
August 31st, 1895,
| The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley | |