Poems (Craik)/Over the Hills and Far Away

by Dinah Maria Craik

For works with similar titles, see Over the Hills and Far Away.

OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY.

LITTLE bird flew my window by,
'Twixt the level street and the level sky,
The level rows of houses tall,
The long low sun on the level wall;
And all that the little bird did say
Was, "Over the hills and far away."

A little bird sang behind my chair,
From the level line of corn-fields fair,
The smooth green hedgerow's level bound
Not a furlong off—the horizon's bound,
And the level lawn where the sun all day
Burns:—"Over the hills and far away."

A little bird sings above my bed,
And I know if I could but lift my head
I would see the sun set, round and grand,
Upon level sea and level sand,
While beyond the misty distance gray
Is "Over the hills and far away."

I think that a little bird will sing
Over a grassy mound, next spring,
Where something that once was me, ye 'll leave
In the level sunshine, morn and eve:
But I shall be gone, past night, past day,
Over the hills and far away.