Beside my opened window pane, Each morning in this month of May A blackbird sings in dulcet strain Two liquid notes, which seem to say "Come again! Come again!" Alike in sunshine and in rain, Now loud and clear, now soft and low, He warbles forth the same refrain, Which haunts me with its hint of woe, -- "Come again! Come again!" What bird, whose absence gives him pain, Doth he thus tenderly recall? What longed-for joy would he regain By those two words which rise and fall, -- "Come again! Come again!" Sometimes, when I too long have lain And listened to his plaintive air, An impulse I cannot restrain Hath moved me too to breathe that prayer, -- "Come again! Come again!" O vanished youth, when faith was plain, When hopes were high, and manhood's years Showed dazzling summits to attain; O days, ere eyes grew dim with tears, -- "Come again! Come again!" O friends, whose memory leaves no stain, O dearly loved and early lost! Do you your love for me retain Beyond the silent sea you crossed? "Come again! Come again!" Alas! sweet bird, all life moves on; The seed becomes the ripened grain, And what is past is gone, is gone! Cease calling, therefore, -- 'tis in vain -- "Come again! Come again!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PRODIGAL SON by DAVID IGNATOW A PARADOX by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DREAM LIFE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SEPARATION by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MA LADY'S LIPS AM LIKE DE HONEY (NEGRO LOVE SONG) by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON STREET-CRIES: 7. A SONG OF LOVE by SIDNEY LANIER |