Sweet wind, fair wind, where have you been?
"I've been sweeping the cobwebs out of the sky;
I've been grinding a grist in the mill hard by;
I've been laughing at work while others sigh;
Let those laugh who win!"
Sweet rain, soft rain, what are you doing?
"I'm urging the corn to fill out its cells;
I'm helping the lily to fashion its bells;
I'm swelling the torrent and brimming the wells;
Is that worth pursuing?"
Redbreast, redbreast, what have you done?
"I've been watching the nest where my fledgelings lie;
I've sung them to sleep with a lullaby;
By-and-by I shall teach them to fly.
Up and away, every one!"
Honey-bee, honey-bee, where are you going?
"To fill my basket with precious pelf;
To toil for my neighbour as well as myself;
To find out the sweetest flower that grows.
Be it a thistle or be it a rose —
A secret worth the knowing!"
Each content with the work to be done,
Ever the same from sun to sun:
Shall you and I be taught to work
By the bee and the bird, that scorn to shirk?
Wind and rain fulfilling His word!
Tell me, was ever a legend heard
Where the wind, commanded to blow, deferred;
Or the rain, that was bidden to fall, demurred?
