ALOOF, I heard The rise and dip note of the oven-bird, Word upon buoyant word, Rapt music, blithe as is the blossoming Of frail hepaticas, rills dropped a-wing, Or from a bough a-swing In the warm lyric south-wind. Little leaves Rippled in soft green laughter. Belted thieves, Bent upon honey-plunder, made fleet chase From bloom to bloom, -- The cloud-white trillium and squirrel's-corn, The seal-o'-Solomon, golden as the morn, -- With breezy boom, Or low and dreamy bass. Then swift I said, Of all earth's loveliness enamored, "Here is my place! Here will I linger and gain lasting grace From all this sweet renewal, -- the old lure Of youth and joy! I that am spent and poor Will straight grow rich and hale; And there shall naught avail To filch from me my wealth; No creeping stealth Shall grasp it in the watches of the night!" Hence I abide. Oh, ye who would win healing, heart-delight, Come ye and look and list, revivified! Slough thy gray wintry mood! Clasp hands with life renewed! Bird-voice, brook-babble, blossom-murmurs, kind Touch of the whispering wind, Grass-crinkle, bud-unfolding, each and all, Have been, and are, and will be mine uplifting. Earth hath no vernal entity so small, So subtle, or so shifting, It doth not hold me thrall! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OH YOU ARE COMING by SARA TEASDALE GERONTION by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM, THE MURDERER by THOMAS HOOD TO THE RIVER CHARLES by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE ANGEL OF PATIENCE by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER A WORD TO THE WEST END by THOMAS ASHE MR. BARNEY MAGUIRE'S ACCOUNT OF THE CORONATION by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |