War Drums (Scharkie)/A Bird's Song
A BIRD'S SONG.
I wandered down a lonely vale.A perfume-laden, passing galeLaughed lowly, as from valley violets, pale, It ruffled the air.Adown, a winding streamlet wept;And round about the shadows stept;And glints of golden sunlight lowly slept Here and there.
Else, all was calm and still; no soundRuffling the air; silence profoundAbove me, and within me, and around, Deep as a noble psalm;Save that from yonder woven copse,A linnet's soul, singing, he dropsOn to the keys of nature's silent stops, Hallowing the calm.
And thus he sang, "great heart, great mind,Pow'rful yet powerless, strong but blind;Mighty to mourn the fate of human kind, Lofty, but hollow.My beak, fresh-washed with coolest dew,Trills but one simple song for you:—Spread thy dull soul to yon empyrean blue— Upwards and follow."