EARTH VOICES
by: Bliss Carman (1861-1929)
I
- HEARD the
spring wind whisper
- Above the brushwood fire,
- "The world is made forever
- Of transport and desire.
-
- "I am the breath of being,
- The primal urge of things;
- I am the whirl of star dust,
- I am the lift of wings.
-
- "I am the splendid impulse
- That comes before the thought,
- The joy and exaltation
- Wherein the life is caught.
-
- "Across the sleeping furrows
- I call the buried seed,
- And blade and bud and blossom
- Awaken at my need.
-
- "Within the dying ashes
- I blow the sacred spark,
- And make the hearts of lovers
- To leap against the dark."
-
- II
-
- I heard the spring light whisper
- Above the dancing stream,
- "The world is made forever
- In likeness of a dream.
-
- "I am the law of planets,
- I am the guide of man;
- The evening and the morning
- Are fashioned to my plan.
-
- "I tint the dawn with crimson,
- I tinge the sea with blue;
- My track is in the desert,
- My trail is in the dew.
-
- "I paint the hills with color,
- And in my magic dome
- I light the star of evening
- To steer the traveller home.
-
- "Within the house of being,
- I feed the lamp of truth
- With tales of ancient wisdom
- And prophecies of youth."
-
- III
-
- I heard the spring rain murmur
- Above the roadside flower,
- "The world is made forever
- In melody and power.
-
- "I keep the rhythmic measure
- That marks the steps of time,
- And all my toil is fashioned
- To symmetry and rhyme.
-
- "I plow the untilled upland,
- I ripe the seeding grass,
- And fill the leafy forest
- With music as I pass.
-
- "I hew the raw, rough granite
- To loveliness of line,
- And when my work is finished,
- Behold, it is divine!
-
- "I am the master-builder
- In whom the ages trust.
- I lift the lost perfection
- To blossom from the dust."
-
- IV
-
- Then Earth to them made answer,
- As with a slow refrain
- Born of the blended voices
- Of wind and sun and rain,
- "This is the law of being
- That links the threefold chain:
- The life we give to beauty
- Returns to us again."
"Earth Voices" is reprinted
from April Airs: A Book of New England Lyrics. Bliss Carman.
Boston: Small, Maynard and Company, 1916. |
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POEMS BY BLISS CARMAN |
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