I ALL the trees are sleeping, all the winds are still, All the fleecy flocks of cloud, gone beyond the hill; Through the noon-day silence, down the woods of June, Hark, a little hunter's voice, running with a tune. "Hide and seek! "When I speak, "You must answer me: "Call again, "Merry men, "Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!" Now I hear his footsteps rustling in the grass: Hidden in my leafy nook, shall I let him pass? Just a low, soft whistle, -- quick the hunter turns, Leaps upon me laughing loud, rolls me in the ferns. "Hold him fast, "Caught at last! "Now you're it, you see. "Hide your eye, "Till I cry, "Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!" II Long ago he left me, long and long ago; Now I wander thro' the world, seeking high and low. Hidden safe and happy, in some pleasant place, -- If I could but hear his voice, soon I'd see his face! Far away, Many a day, Where can Barney be? Answer, dear, Don't you hear? Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee! Birds that every spring-time sung him full of joy, Flowers he loved to pick for me, mind me of my boy. Somewhere he is waiting till my steps come nigh; Love may hide itself awhile, but love can never die. Heart, be glad, The little lad Will call again to thee: "Father dear, "Heaven is here, "Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CLOTHES by JEAN STARR UNTERMEYER THE RESURRECTION by JONATHAN HENDERSON BROOKS VASHTI by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER FONTENOY, 1745: 2. AFTER THE BATTLE, EARLY DAWN, CLARE COAST by EMILY LAWLESS WITHOUT AND WITHIN by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL LOVE LIES BLEEDING by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI ANIMAL TRANQUILITY AND DECAY; A SKETCH by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |