War Drums (Scharkie)/A Bird's Song

by Louis Edward Scharkie

A BIRD'S SONG.

I wandered down a lonely vale.
A perfume-laden, passing gale
Laughed 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 sound
Ruffling the air; silence profound
Above me, and within me, and around,
  Deep as a noble psalm;
Save that from yonder woven copse,
A linnet's soul, singing, he drops
On 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."