AMID the sound of picks to-day, And shovels rasping on the rail, A sweet voice came from far away, From out a gladly greening vale. My mate look'd up in some surprise; I half stopp'd humming idle rhyme: Then said, the moisture in my eyes, "The cuckoo, Jack, for the first time." How sweet he sang! I could have stood For hours, and heard that simple strain; An early gladness throng'd my blood, And brought my boyhood back again. The primrose took a deeper hue, The dewy grass a greener look; The violet wore a deeper blue, A lighter music led the brook. Each thing to its own depth was stirr'd, Leaf, flower, and heaven's moving cloud, As still he piped, that stranger bird, His mellow May-song clear and loud. Would I could see him as he sings, When, as if thought and act were one, He came; the grey on neck and wings Turn'd white against the happy sun. I knew his well-known sober flight, That boyhood made so dear to me; And, blessings on him! he stopp'd in sight, And sang where I could hear and see. Two simple notes were all he sang, And yet my manhood fled away; Dear God! The earth is always young, And I am young with it to-day. A wondrous realm of early joy Grew all around as I became Among my mates a bearded boy, That could have wept but for the shame. For all my purer life, now dead, Rose up, fair-fashion'd, at the call Of that grey bird, whose voice had shed The charm of boyhood over all. O early hopes and sweet spring tears! That heart has never known its prime That stands without a tear and hears The cuckoo's voice for the first time. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LEPANTO by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON A PENNY'S WORTH OF POESY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS TO A REPUBLICAN FRIEND, 1848, CONTINUED by MATTHEW ARNOLD AFTER THE SOIREE by F. R. D. B. A WEATHER PROPHET by JANE BARLOW PSALM 32. BEATI QUORUM REMISSA SUNT by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |