The Voices That Call Me.
There’s a voice from the woodland that calls me away,1
Where the sweet birds are singing from bower to spray ;2
By my favourite rock the green mosses are springing,3
And far on the hillside the sheep-bells are
ringing ;4
By my rock springs a fountain where violets blow,5
The primrose, the cranesbill, and ground-ivy grow.6
There my favourite robin and sweet linnet bathe,7
And o’er it the brooms their gold coronals wave.8
The sunbeams are kissing the oak’s glossy leaves,9
And a thousand low whispers are borne on the breeze.10
These to me are like loved voices—low, thrilling, sweet ;11
These I fly to the lone wood as dear friends to meet.12
When coldness, deceit, disappointment, or strife,13
Parch up the bright dew from the fresh morn of life,14
Then the voice of my kindred things bids me come forth,15
And feel as a child in the childhood of earth.16
Gay fancies and wonder, deep thoughts and emotion,17
Like that of his bosom who first sees the ocean.18
While the chorus of voices praise Him who has given,19
And the incense of voiceless things floats up to heaven.20
There’s a voice from the ocean that calls me away,21
When the first shades of evening just steal o’er the day ;22
When the tones of the waters, mysterious and low,23
Softly murmur bright words of the strange sights below ;24
While the rose clouds of evening are fading in night,25
And far on the depths streams the last ray of light.26
There are voices that call me when wild winds are howling,27
And dark and portentous the black clouds are scowling ;28
And the wild steeds of ocean, with white-crested mane,29
Like their compeers of earth, spurn bridle and rein ;30
And the dash of these billows, that own not control,31
Stirs the wellspring of liberty deep in my soul.32
When in sorrow I wander, there are sweet voices nigh ;33
The reeds by the river re-echoing each sigh ;34
The trees as they sway, and the leaves as they quiver ;35
The sigh of the winds, and the moan of the river !36
When in gladness I bound o’er the fresh smiling earth,37
The rejoicing of streams seem to welcome its birth ;38
The trilling of birds and the chiming of showers,39
Announce the approach of long bright summer hours !40