n free.
At His bidding my bands fell apart, He
had burst them asunder.
I can feel the swift wind rushing by me,
once more the old wonder
Of quickening sap stirs my pulses--I
shout in my gladness,
Forgetting the sadness,
For the Voice of the Lord fills the air!
And forth through the hollow I go, where
in glad April weather,
The trees of the forest break out into
singing together.
And here the frail windflowers will cluster,
with young ferns uncurling,
Where broader and deeper my waters go
eddying, whirling,
To meet the sweet Spring on her journey
--His servant to be,
Whose word set me free!
Luggage in Advance
"The Fairies must have come," I
said,
"For through the moist leaves, brown and
dead,
The Primroses are pushing up,
And here's a scarlet Fairy-cup.
They must have come, because I see
A single Wood Anemone,
The flower that everybody knows
The Fairies use to scent their clothes.
And hark! The South Wind blowing, fills
The trumpets of the Daffodils.
They MUST have come!"
Then loud to me
Sang from a budding cherry tree,
A cheerful Thrush . . . "I say! I say!
The Fairy Folk are on their way.
Look out! Look out! Beneath your feet,
Are all their treasures: Sweet! Sweet!
Sweet!
They could not carry them, you see,
Those caskets crammed with witchery,
So ready for the first Spring dance,
They sent their Luggage in Advance!"
At the Cross Roads
There I halted. Further down the
hollow
Stood the township, where my errand lay.
Firm my purpose, till a voice cried
(Follow!
Come this way--I tell you--come this
way!)
Silence, Thrush! You know I think of
buying
A Spring-tide hat; my frock is worn and
old.
So to the shops I go. What's that you're
crying?
(Here! Come here! And gather primrose
gold.)
Well, yes. Some day I will; but time is
going.
I haste to purchase silks and satins fair.
I'm all in rags. (The Lady's Smock is
showing
Up yonder, in the little coppice there.)
And wood anemones spread out their
laces;
Ea
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