Snow-capped mountain, so white, so tall, The whole sea Must stand behind you!
Snow-capped mountain, with the wind on your forehead, Do you hold the eagles" nests?
Proud thing, You shine like a lily, Yet with a different whiteness; I should not dare to venture Up your slippery towers, For I am thinking you lean too far Over the Edge of the World!
THE BROOK AND ITS CHILDREN
"O brook, running down your mossy way, I hear only your voice And the murmuring fir-trees; Where are your children?
Where are the magic stones, your children?"
The brook answered me sweetly, "I left them on the Alp, In steep fields.
They were trying to hold me back, To keep me from this shady path of happiness; But I went onward day by day Until they got used to seeing me pa.s.s.
Now, they stand there in an enchantment On the mountain-side, While I travel fields of elm and poplar."
BIRD OF PARADISE
I was walking in a meadow of Paradise When I heard a singing Far away and sweet Like a Roman harp, Sweet and murmurous Like the wind, Far and soft Like the fir trees.
It will not change a song If the bird has a golden crest; No feathers of blue and rose-red Could make a song.
I have known in my dreaming A gray bird that sang While all the fields listened!
The Bird of Paradise is like flowers of many trees Blooming on one: I saw him in the meadow, But it was the gray bird I heard singing Beyond and far.
SHINY BROOK
Oh, shiny brook, I watch you on your way to the sea, And see little faces peering up Out of the water . . .
Water-fairies Strange smiles and questions.
They are your pebbles sweet, Golden with foam of the sun, Blue with foam of the sky.
I know their way of speaking, Of talking to each other: I hear them telling secrets About green moss, about fish that get lost.
And how I am sitting on a big stone Getting my feet wet in Shiny Brook To watch their surprising ways!
HILLS
The hills are going somewhere; They have been on the way a long time.
They are like camels in a line But they move more slowly.
Sometimes at sunset they carry silks, But most of the time silver birch trees, Heavy rocks, heavy trees, gold leaves On heavy branches till they are aching . . .
Birches like silver bars they can hardly lift With gra.s.s so thick about their feet to hinder . . .
They have not gone far In the time I"ve watched them . . .
ADVENTURE
I went slowly through the wood of shadows, Thinking always I should meet some one: There was no one.
I found a hollow Sweet to rest in all night long: I did not stay.
I came out beyond the trees To the moaning sea.
Over the sea swam a cloud the outline of a ship: What if that ship held my adventure Under its sails?
Come quickly to me, come quickly, I am waiting.
I am here on the sand; Sail close!
I want to go over the waves . . .
The sand holds me back.
Oh adventure, if you belong to me, Don"t blow away down the sky!
FAIRIES
I cannot see fairies.
I dream them.
There is no fairy can hide from me; I keep on dreaming till I find him: There you are, Primrose! I see you, Black Wing!
HUMMING-BIRD
Why do you stand on the air And no sun shining?
How can you hold yourself so still On raindrops sliding?
They change and fall, they are not steady, But you do not know they are gone.
Is there a silver wire I cannot see?
Is the wind your perch?
Raindrops slide down your little shoulders . . .
They do not wet you: I think you are not real In your green feathers!
You are not a humming-bird at all Standing on air above the garden!
I dreamed you the way I dream fairies, Or the flower I lost yesterday!
BLUE GRa.s.s
Blue gra.s.s flowering in the field, You are my heart"s content.
It is not only through the day I see you, But in dreams at night When you trudge up the hill Along the forest, As I do!