For Eager Lovers (Taggard collection)/First Miracle
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FIRST MIRACLE
There was a time when Mother Nature made
My soul's sun, and my soul's shade.
My soul's sun, and my soul's shade.
A cloud in the sky could take away
The song in my heart for all day,
The song in my heart for all day,
And a little lark in a willow-tree
Would mean happiness to me.
Would mean happiness to me.
My moods would mirror all her whims;
Trees were my strength: their limbs, my limbs.
Trees were my strength: their limbs, my limbs.
But, oh, my mother tortured me,
Blowing with wind, and sighing with sea.
Blowing with wind, and sighing with sea.
I flamed, I withered, I blossomed, I sang,
With her I suffered pang for pang,
With her I suffered pang for pang,
Until I said: "I will grow my own tree
Where no natural wind will bother me."
Where no natural wind will bother me."
And I grew me a willow of my own heart's strength,
With my will for its width, and my wish for its length
With my will for its width, and my wish for its length
And I made me a bird of my own heart's fire,
To sing my own sun, and my own desire.
To sing my own sun, and my own desire.
And a vast white circle came in the air,
And the winds around said, "Don't blow there."
And the winds around said, "Don't blow there."
I said, "Blow on—blow, blow, blow, blow,
Fill all the sky, above, below
With tempest, and sleet, and silence, and snow!
Fill all the sky, above, below
With tempest, and sleet, and silence, and snow!
"Wherever I go, no matter where,
My bird and my willow-tree are there.
My bird and my willow-tree are there.
"However you frown, no matter how,
I will sing as I am singing now."
I will sing as I am singing now."