I HEARD the piper playing, The piper old and blind, And knew its secret saying— The voice of the summer wind. I heard clear waters falling, Lapping from stone to stone; The wood-dove crying and calling, Ever alone, alone. I heard the bells of the heather Ring in the summer breeze, Soft stir of fur and feather And quiet hum of bees. The piper drew me yearning Into the dim grey lands, Whence there is no returning Although I wring my hands. There to the piper's crooning I saw my dead again, All in a happy nooning Of golden sun and rain. You piper, kind and hoary, Your pipes upon your knee, If I should tell my story, The things you piped for me, The folk would leave their selling And bid their buying go, If I could but be telling The things you let me know. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOPE (1) by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE COUNTESS CATHLEEN IN PARADISE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE WHITE KNIGHT'S SONG by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON THE LOVE OF GOD by ELIZA SCUDDER THE FOOL'S ADVENTURE by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE SONG, FR. ARTAXERXES (OPERA) by THOMAS AUGUSTINE ARNE PROLOGUE TO DRAMA ..... ANNIVERSARY OF CARRS' MARRIAGE by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |