The Wind’s Tidings.
“ Oh voice of
summer winds among the trees,1
What soft news art thou bringing to us here
?2
Dost thou come whisp’ring of hushed scenes like these,3
Languid in sunlight, while the drowsy deer4
Couch placidly at rest, and from the brake5
The song of fearless wild birds rings out clear,6
And groves and meadows and this baby lake7
Are dreaming to thy dreaming lullaby ?8
Art telling of hushed scenes like these ? Awake,9
Answer, sweet dying wind, and do not die.”10
And the voice of the faint winds, dying away,11
Answered me, “Nay.”12
“ Oh voice of summer winds, then art thou come13
From fluttering in the tangles of the vines14
Beside the blue blue seas, in the far home15
Of the dim olives and the dusky pines,16
And from the cypress bosks, and where the air17
Grows lush and heavy ’twixt the dark-starred lines18
Of orange hedge a-bloom, and the wide glare19
Floods soft round hills with southern perfect day ?20
Answer again, low voice, hast thou been there ?21
Art telling of the dreamland far away ?”22
And the voice of the winds sighed over my head,23
“ Nay, nay,” it said.24
“ Oh sweet low voice of winds, whose wavering flights25
Smoothly, like flickering swallows, come and go,26
What, is thy tale of where the ceaseless heights27
Rest white and cloudlike in their virgin snow ?28
Hast thou been wandering round the scented firs,29
And where the dauntless shrub-flowers bud and blow30
Against the pale chill sea that never stirs,31
And where the midway foam hangs o’er the cleft ?32
Speak, slumbrous voice, to slumbrous listeners,33
Art telling us of these that thou hast left ?”34
And the voice of the dying winds breathed low,35
“ Nay, nay ; not so.”36
“ Oh voice of dying winds, make sweet reply,37
Whence hast thou come ? What does thy whisper say ?38
Answer, oh dying voice, and do not die.”39
It whispered in a hush, “ The dead men lay40
Fallen together like the sickled grain ;41
Onwards still dashed the whirlwind and the fray ;42
The thunders and the tramplings shook the plain ;43
There was the crash and clash of host to host,44
Throes, and the blood-pools widening, death and pain.”45
And waning in a murmur it was lost.46