 | Evensong |  |
26
REBELS
From these high upland fields the LarkGoes travelling to a Heaven aglow;
And who shall bid the adventurer mark
Curfew was struck an hour ago?
The Blackbird rollicks in the grove
And laughs to think of folk in bed,
Nor fears a hand not laid in love
On his smooth nape, his burnished head.
The Thrush—and who would tell the Thrush
On such delicious eves to creep
Into his nest in the privet-bush?
Good lack: there's all the dark to sleep!
The Cuckoo with Cuckoo will mock
And flit a little further still;
He only keeps the Cuckoo-clock,
And that is set at golden still.
Even the gamin sparrow will take
His dust-bath in the dangerous way;
And see,—the meandering corncrake
After official end of day!
For who shall bid the sun down-sink
Before his appointed time, my Lords?
These rascals break your laws, I think
These most disloyal, rebelly birds.
27
In stuffy tenements must grieve
The birds but turn the eye that's blind
On curfew, without ‘By your leave.’
From these high upland fields survey
A world where no man stirs, poor man!
To their own laughter, wild and gay,
They romp at ‘Catch me, if you can!’
| Evensong | |