Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WOOD-VOICE, by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WOOD-VOICE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Would you learn of the forest?
Last Line: And the shadows creep after!
Subject(s): Forests; Woods


WOULD you learn of the Forest?
Its tears and its laughter—
The lore of the trail
Where the sunlight is pale
And the shadows creep after?
Be still, then, and listen,
All you who are seeking,
For 'tis the hushed voice
Of the forest that's speaking!
"I live in the trees—
I am always there, singing,
My song has no end
As it knew no beginning.
Some call me the Wind,
Some, the Wind's-Little-Brother—
I am the Wood-voice,
Neither one nor the other—
The Wind is from far
And he sings of great spaces,
I am small and I sing
Of the dim, woody places.
In my song is the note
Of the ferns and the mosses
That shrink in the shade
Of the Maple that tosses
Free arms far above—
And that note from the thicket,
Insistent and clear,
Is the tiny wood-cricket!—
Hush! Bend a quick ear,
Do you catch a tone falling
So faint, yet so sweet?
'Tis the forest brook, calling,
As, ceaseless, it slips
Through the tangle above it
To linger awhile
With the flowers that love it.
Look deep in its heart—
There the ghost-leaves are lying
In that strange other life
Which they enter by dying—
Step soft—you will hear
Them still whisper together
Of the wind and the sun
And the sweet summer weather—

"And now a new note!
(Few, if any, who hear it
Know 'tis aught save a branch
And the wind passing near it!)
'Tis the tall-standing pine
Who, in whispers, engages
A spruce bending near,
And the secrets of ages
Pass soft overhead!
Hush! Be still; you will hear them—
Nor fear to believe
Since all Heaven is near them!"

Would you learn of the Forest
Its tears and its laughter?
Go follow the trail
When the sunlight lies pale
And the shadows creep after!





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