Under the Oak.
Soft the wind-blow and sunshine1
In this garden which is mine ;2
Scarce a hundred yards in girth,3
Yet a part of all the earth !4
World for carpet, roof of skies,5
Walls of Nature’s tapestries,6
Naught between the sun and me7
Save the curtain of a tree.8
Here as ’neath the oak I sit,9
Whisperings come out of it ;10
Summer-fancies, half desires,11
Breaths that fan forgotten fires,12
Trembling little waifs of song,13
Seeking words to make them strong,14
Life that dies without a sorrow,15
Butterflies of no to-morrow,16
Odours of a bygone day,17
All the sweets that will not stay,18
All the sweets that never cloy,19
Unembodied souls of joy,20
Sing and flutter, flash and go,21
With a ceaseless interflow ;22
Till at last some happier seed,23
Finds the rest its brothers need,24
Strikes a root and grows and climbs,25
Buds in words and flowers in rhymes.26
Who shall tell me how it came !27
Was it in this winnowed flame,28
Golden-dripping through the leaves29
Like the grain of heavenly sheaves ?30
From the voice of throstle clear31
‘ Was it filtered through the ear ?32
Came it thus, or did it come33
Borne upon the wild bee’s hum,34
That a moment buzzed around35
With a circle charmed of sound ?36
Or did Zephyr in a dell37
Steal it with a scent as well38
From some hidden flower-bell,39
To instil its life in me40
With a subtle chemistry ?41
Little knew I, but a sense42
Solemn, delicate, intense,43
Filled my spirit with a bliss44
Sweeter, holier, than a kiss—45
Liquid, radiant, unthought,46
That at once all being brought47
Into rarer harmony,48
Beast and bird, and sun and tree,49
Air and perfume, God and me.50
Just as one whose birthright lost,51
Wonder-struck and passion-tost,52
After many a loveless day53
Sails at length into a bay54
Where he thinks his bones to lay,55
Finds indeed an end to strife,56
Not in dying, but in life,57
Friends and kindred, birthright, all,58
With dear love for coronal.59
So at length I seemed at home60
Underneath that distant dome,61
Where the spirit holds at ease62
Frank communion with the trees ;63
Comrade of the boundless wind,64
Linked in universal mind65
With all things which live or are,66
From the daisy to the star,67
Part for once of Nature’s plan,68
Not the lonely exile—Man.69