Classic Poem

The red-winged black-bird whistled from the reeds
The cat-tail stalks rose thickly straight and tall,
By meadow-slopes rang sweet a carnival
Of bobolinks down-fluttering on the meads;
From ribbon-grass and downy road-side weeds
Fine powdered particles of dust would fall,
And where the sun shone, through an old stone wall
Danced in its light a myriad of seeds.

Then came a hush in Nature — one that fell
Like shadows on the leaves, so soft it seemed,
Or like that pause which follows when a bell
Peals, and is silent; and we sat and dreamed,
While all around the waters wove their spell
And far above the cloudless azure gleamed.