Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BIRD OF PARADISE by HILDA CONKLING

First Line: I WAS WALKING IN A MEADOW OF PARADISE
Last Line: BEYOND AND FAR.

I WAS walking in a meadow of Paradise
When I heard a singing
Far away and sweet
Like a Roman harp,
Sweet and murmurous
Like the wind,
Far and soft
Like the fir trees.
It will not change a song
If the bird has a golden crest;
No feathers of blue and rose-red
Could make a song.
I have known in my dreaming
A gray bird that sang
While all the fields listened!
The Bird of Paradise is like flowers of many trees
Blooming on one:
I saw him in the meadow,
But it was the gray bird I heard singing
Beyond and far.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net