Yes, i have heard the nightingale.
As in dark woods I wandered,
And dreamed and pondered,
A voice passed by all fire
And passion and desire;
I rather felt than heard
The song of that lone bird:
Yes, I have heard the nightingale.
Yes, I have heard the nightingale.
I heard it, and I followed;...
Better — than Music! For I — who heard it —
I was used — to the Birds — before —
This — was different — 'Twas Translation —
Of all tunes I knew — and more —
'Twasn't contained — like other stanza —
No one could play it — the second time —
But the Composer — perfect Mozart —
Perish with...
High from the earth I heard a bird,
He trod upon the trees
As he esteemed them trifles,
And then he spied a breeze,
And situated softly
Upon a pile of wind
Which in a perturbation
Nature had left behind.
A joyous going fellow
I gathered from his talk
Which...
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died —
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air —
Between the Heaves of Storm —
The Eyes around — had wrung them dry —
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset — when the King
Be witnessed — in the Room —
I...
* * *
I heard an Angel singing
When the day was springing,
‘Mercy, Pity, Peace,
Is the world’s release.’
Thus he sung all day
Over the new mown hay,
Till the sun went down
And haycocks looked brown.
I heard a Devil curse
...
I heard, as if I had no Ear
Until a Vital Word
Came all the way from Life to me
And then I knew I heard.
I saw, as if my Eye were on
Another, till a Thing
And now I know 'twas Light, because
It fitted them, came in.
I dwelt, as if Myself, were out,
My Body...
I've heard an Organ talk, sometimes
In a Cathedral Aisle,
And understood no word it said —
Yet held my breath, the while —
And risen up — and gone away,
A more Berdardine Girl —
Yet — know not what was done to me
In that old Chapel Aisle.
Like Flowers, that heard the news of Dews,
But never deemed the dripping prize
Awaited their — low Brows —
Or Bees — that thought the Summer's name
Some rumor of Delirium,
No Summer — could — for Them —
Or Arctic Creatures, dimly stirred —
By Tropic Hint — some Travelled Bird
...
The farthest Thunder that I heard
Was nearer than the Sky
And rumbles still, though torrid Noons
Have lain their missiles by —
The Lightning that preceded it
Struck no one but myself —
But I would not exchange the Bolt
For all the rest of Life —
Indebtedness to Oxygen
...
* * *
When the voices of children are heard on the green,
And whisperings are in the dale,
The [desires del.] days of my youth rise fresh in my mind,
My face turns green & pale.
Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down
And the dews of night arise;
...
