SOFTLY in a dream I heard, Ere the day was breaking, Softly call a cuckoo bird Between sleep and waking. Calling through the rippling rain And red orchard blossom; Calling up old love again, Buried in my bosom; Calling till he brought you too From some magic region; And the whole spring followed you, Birds on birds in legion. Youth was in your beaming glance, Love a rainbow round you; Blushing trees began to dance, Wreaths of roses crowned you. And I called your name, and woke To the cuckoo's calling; And you waned in waning smoke, As the rain was falling. Had the cuckoo called "Adieu," Ere the day was breaking? All the old wounds bled anew Between sleep and waking. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TRANSLATED WAY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS TITA'S TEARS; A FANTASY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH WOODEN WHEELS by LOWELL C. BALLARD THE LAST MAN: A DREAM by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES ROAD AND HILLS by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE LONELY WALK by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS |