THE sun on the oriole's flashing breast As he flits through the rosy apple-flowers, A waning moon in the tender west, And, high in the boughs, an empty nest Beaten by winter's blasts and showers; — Hush! his ravishing carol rings From the topmost twig he makes his throne! Rich as the hue of his glancing wings — Mellow as flute-notes zephyr-blown Down Phrygian dells when day is done! — Oriole, singing aloft in the sun, The waning moon and the empty nest, Shadow and silence, at God's behest, Follow shine and the brood in the bowers; Follow, and who knows which is best? — Sing on, by the rosy apple-flowers. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PLOUGHMAN by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES A SUNRISE SONG by SIDNEY LANIER THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 71. THE CHOICE (1) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI EIGHT VOLUNTEERS by LANSING C. BAILEY SONNET: FOR FREEDOM'S SAKE by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON PSALM 125 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN IN VINCULIS; SONNETS WRITTEN IN AN IRISH PRISON: DEEDS MIGHT HAVE BEEN by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |