Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BLUEBIRD, by WILLIAM P. ALEXANDER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BLUEBIRD, by                    
First Line: One bird I know, that haunts the blissful / scene
Last Line: A benediction, when the bluebird sings!
Subject(s): Birds; Bluebirds; Spring


ONE bird I know, that haunts the blissful scene
Where idling Spring renews her lavish wiles,
And stores her gold, and countless tints of green
To come with emerald step, and gracious smiles
Some glad fresh morn:—but ah! my bird before
Her train, with full, and strong impatient wing,
Will bear the tidings to my very door,
And I shall hear, deep stirred with wondering!

My bird has caught the gentian-hue of skies
That over-arched those orient isles he found;
Has cloaked himself in such becoming guise,
And touched his breast to musk rose teeming ground;
He learned the low, sweet cadence of the wind
That touched with unseen lip the golden reed,
And in his warble audibly entwined
The lingering lilt of zephyrs on the mead.

When March is harsh, and blustering bends the bough
Of leafless tree, with young buds still asleep,
All unawares, some morning, and somehow,
I know again my sluggish blood will leap,
When on my ear the old familiar strain
Will fall, and I shall catch a flash of blue,
And know the gates of Paradise again
Have open swung, and let my bluebird through.

For after him will come the myriad throng
Of varied joys, that lead to perfect June,
The upland glades, and vales a-ring with song
And meadows with a mantling bloom bestrewn,
But oh! the gentle warble, first to steal
Into our ear, gives joy no other brings.
For winter-weary, every heart must feel
A benediction, when the bluebird sings!





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