Verses by Susan Coolidge

Author:Susan Coolidge
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781634214322
Publisher: Duke Classics

A Blind Singer

*

In covert of a leafy porch,

Where woodbine clings,

And roses drop their crimson leaves,

He sits and sings;

With soft brown crest erect to hear,

And drooping wings.

Shut in a narrow cage, which bars

His eager flight,

Shut in the darker prison-house

Of blinded sight,

Alike to him are sun and stars,

The day, the night.

But all the fervor of high noon,

Hushed, fragrant, strong,

And all the peace of moonlit nights

When nights are long,

And all the bliss of summer eves,

Breathe in his song.

The rustle of the fresh green woods,

The hum of bee,

The joy of flight, the perfumed waft

Of blossoming tree,

The half-forgotten, rapturous thrill

Of liberty,—

All blend and mix, while evermore,

Now and again,

A plaintive, puzzled cadence comes,

A low refrain,

Caught from some shadowy memory

Of patient pain.

In midnight black, when all men sleep,

My singer wakes,

And pipes his lovely melodies,

And trills and shakes.

The dark sky bends to listen, but

No answer makes.

O, what is joy? In vain we grasp

Her purple wings;

Unwon, unwooed, she flits to dwell

With humble things;

She shares my sightless singer's cage,

And so—he sings.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.