SOFTLY in a dream I heard, Ere the day was breaking, Softly call a cuckoo bird Between sleep and waking. Calling through the rippling rain And red orchard blossom; Calling up old love again, Buried in my bosom; Calling till he brought you too From some magic region; And the whole spring followed you, Birds on birds in legion. Youth was in your beaming glance, Love a rainbow round you; Blushing trees began to dance, Wreaths of roses crowned you. And I called your name, and woke To the cuckoo's calling; And you waned in waning smoke, As the rain was falling. Had the cuckoo called "Adieu," Ere the day was breaking? All the old wounds bled anew Between sleep and waking. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SECRECY PROTESTED by THOMAS CAREW LEISURE by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE OLD VIOLIN by MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN AT CASTERBRIDGE FAIR: 1. THE BALLAD-SINGER by THOMAS HARDY THE FIRST SNOWFALL by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL VITAI LAMPADA by HENRY JOHN NEWBOLT JENNY WI' THE AIRN TEETH by ALEXANDER ANDERSON EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 41. LOVE REQUIRES NO ENTREATIES by PHILIP AYRES |