THE voice of innocence I heard Answering some young frightened bird, Or perhaps it talked alone Of the rainbow sign then shown. Then I heard it at the green, Where they filled their buckets clean, Where the lame child shouted past In hare-and-hounds, not least though last. Innocence, your voice! again Where a dozen labouring men Brought their royallest flowers and fruit To church, I heard -- an angel's flute. Thus this heaven-prevailing charm Came my way by lane and farm Till it seemed a common thing: Then the unseen bliss took wing. But some day this joy again Will come and with such fullness then That even in smothered holes of homes Where dusty sunlight scarcely comes, In ugly brawl or leering lust, In hopes long left to hopeless rust, In Meshech mills or Kedar's tents I'll hear the voice of innocence. |