t silver sphere"; "all the earth
and air with thy voice is loud"; "a rain of melody"; surpassing the
"sound of vernal showers" and of "rain-awakened flowers" and "all that
ever was joyous, clear and fresh"; "a flood of rapture so divine";
beside it a "hymenaeal chorus" or a "triumphal chaunt" is "but an empty
vaunt"; "clear, keen joyance," "notes flow in such a crystal stream."

Besides the ardent appreciation for the beautiful song, the lyric
contains one sad truth exquisitely expressed:

"We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought."

And finally, there is the consummate personal appeal of the poet, which,
if we may judge by the matchless lyric, was answered by the same spirit
that inspired the graceful scorner of the ground:

"Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow,
The world should listen then, as I am listening now!"

Compare the following lyric on the same subject by James Hogg:

Bird of the wilderness,
Blithesome and cumberless,
Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea!
Emblem of happiness,
Blest is thy dwelling-place--
O, to abide in the desert with thee!
Wild is thy lay and loud,
Far in the downy cloud
Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.
Where, on thy dewy wing,
Where art thou journeying?
Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth.
O'er fell and mountain sheen,
O'er moor and mountain green,
O'er the red streamer that heralds the day,
Over the cloudlet dim
Over the rainbow's rim,
Musical cherub, soar, singing away!
Then when the gloaming comes,
Low in the heather blooms
Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be!
Emblem of happiness,
Blest is thy dwelling-place
O, to abide in the desert with thee.

Various interpretations and helpful comments of other kinds may be found
on the following pages:

Volume I, page 95. _The Rock-a-By Lady._
Volume I, page 204. _Old Gaelic Lullaby._
Volume I, page 350. _Keepsake Mill._
Volume I, page 406. _The Fairies._
Volume II, page 482. _In Time's Swing._
Volume IV, page 86.