A nursling of the under-green, A tethered wing I poised between A heaven above and heaven below -- Twin sisters, mirrored in the glow Of limpid waters -- where the breeze, Blind comrade of the listening trees, Came wakening with soft caress The shadows dumb and motionless. There once, at summer's close, a flame Of fire and song, a redbird came, And, perched upon my parent limb, Outpoured his soul. From joy abrim, The bubbling vintage of his brain I quaffed, the while each fibre-vein, Deep-reddening with emotion, stirred. Alas! he heeded not nor heard! But when he ceased and flew away, A panting prisoner I lay, Close-fettered, till the kindred fire Of frost lit up the autumn pyre; Then, suddenly, the tidal swell Of sap receded, and I fell. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE BUILDING OF SPRINGFIELD by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY AMORETTI: 68 by EDMUND SPENSER THE LAND OF COUNTERPANE by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON INDEPENDENCE by HENRY DAVID THOREAU PIONEER WOMAN by EVA K. ANGLESBURG ORNAMENTATIONS by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN SONNETS FOR NEW YORK CITY: 1. NEW YORK AT SUNRISE by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |