Poems (Bushnell)/Hidden Joy
XXXVHIDDEN JOY
Through leafy by-paths, sheltered and apart,Whistling the carol of a careless heart, In idle gladness strolled a truant boy.
Up in a tree-top swayed a little bird,And sang and sang, nor cared if any heard His solitary roundelay of joy.
A brook flowed through the silence of a wood;Some gorgeous flowers upon its margin stood, And waved their scarlet banners of delight.
From midnight's dusky blue shone out a star,And through the darkness trailed its splendor far, Though all the world was buried in the night.
Joy asks no seeing eye, nor listening ear;But carols, blooms and shines when none is near, Only because it feels so fully blest.
The mated bird flies not on open wing,But sings from out the bough, and so I sing The happy secret hidden in my breast.