Chapter 3

Snowflakes come in fleets Like ships over the sea. The moon shines down on the crusty snow: The stars make the sky sparkle like gold-fish In a glassy bowl. Bluebirds are gone now, But they left their song behind them. The moon seems to say: It is time for summer when the birds come back To pick up their lonesome songs.

SNOWSTORM

Snowflakes are dancing. They run down out of heaven. Coming home from somewhere down the long tired road They flake us sometimes The way they do the grass, And the stretch of the world. The grass-blades are crowned with snowflakes. They make me think of daisies With white frills around their necks With golden faces and green gowns; Poor little daisies, Tip-toe and shivering In the cold!

POPPY

Oh big red poppy, You look stern and sturdy, Yet you bow to the wind And sing a lullaby . . . "Sleep, little ones under my breast In the moonshine . . ." You make this lullaby, Sweet, short, Slow, beautiful, And you thank the dew for giving you a drink.

BUTTERFLY

As I walked through my garden I saw a butterfly light on a flower. His wings were pink and purple: He spoke a small word . . . It was Follow! "I cannot follow" I told him, "I have to go the opposite way."

CLOUDS

The clouds were gray all day. At last they departed And the blue diamonds shone again. I watched clouds float past and flow back Like waves across the sea, Waves that are foamy and soft, When they hear clouds calling Mother Sea, send us up your song Of hushaby!

NARCISSUS

Narcissus, I like to watch you grow When snow is shining Beyond the crystal glass. A coat of snow covers the hills far. The sun is setting; And you stretch out flowers of palest white In the pink of the sun.

LITTLE SNAIL

I saw a little snail Come down the garden walk. He wagged his head this way . . . that way . . . Like a clown in a circus. He looked from side to side As though he were from a different country. I have always said he carries his house on his back . . . To-day in the rain I saw that it was his umbrella!

CHERRIES ARE RIPE

The cherry tree is red now; Cherry tree nods his red head And calls to the sun: Let down the birds out of the sky; Send home the birds to build nests in my arms, For I am ready to feed them. There is a little girl coming for cherries too . . . (I am that little girl, I who am singing . . .) She is coming with hair flying! The butterflies will be going (says the cherry) For it is getting dusk. When it is dawn, They will be up and out with the dew, And sparkle as the dew does On the tips of tall slender green grasses Around my feet, Or on the cheeks of fruit I have ripened, Red cherries for birds And children.

A THING FORGOTTEN

White owl is not gloomy; Black bat is not sad. It is only that each has forgotten Something he used to remember: Black bat goes searching . . . searching . . . White owl says over and over Who? What? Where?

LITTLE PAPOOSE:

Little papoose swung high in the branches Hears a song of birds, stars, clouds, Small nests of birds, Small buds of flowers. But he is thinking of his mother with dark hair Like her horse's mane.

Fair clouds nod to him Where he swings in the tree, But he is thinking of his father Dark and glistening and wonderful, Of his father with a voice like ice and velvet, And tones of falling water, Of his father who shouts Like a storm.

FAIRIES AGAIN

Fairies dancing in the woods at night Make me think of foreign places, Of places unknown. Fairies with sparkling crowns and dewy hands, Sprinkle flowers and mosses to keep them fresh, Talk to the birds to keep them cheery. Once a bird came home And found a fairy asleep in his nest, Upon his baby eggs, To keep them warm!

OH, MY HAZEL-EYED MOTHER

Oh, my hazel-eyed mother, I looked behind the mulberry bush And saw you standing there. You were all in white With a star on your forehead.

Oh, my hazel-eyed mother, I do not remember what you said to me, But the light floating above you Was your love for your little girl.

THE GREEN PALM TREE

I sat under a delicate palm tree On a shore of sounding waves. I felt sure I was alone, Listening. A sea-gull flew by from France, A sea-gull flew by from Spain, A sea-gull flew by from Mexico! I laughed softly When they saw me: It was those travelers From foreign countries Changed my thoughts To laughter!

TREASURE

Robbers carry a treasure Into a field of wheat. With a great bag of silk They go on careful feet. They dig a hole, deep, deep, They bury it under a stone, Cover it up with turf, Leave it alone. What is there in the bag? Stones that shine, gold? _I_ cannot rob the robbers! THEY have not told. To-night I'd like to know If they will go Softly to find the treasure? I'd like to know How much yellow gold A bag like that can hold?

TWO PICTURES

I

Gorgeous Blue Mountain

I see a great mountain Stand among clouds; You would never know Where it ended. . . . Oh, gorgeous blue mountain of my heart And of my love for you!

II

Sea-Gull

From a yellow strip of sand I watch a gull go by. He is bright-eyed To see the world of waves. All his dream is of the sea. All his love is for his mate.

TELL ME

Tell me quiet things When it is shadowy: It is at morningbreak you must tell me tales Like those about Odysseus, Morning is the time for ships And strangers!

SILVERHORN

It is out in the mountains I find him, My snowy deer With silver horns like dew, Horns that sparkle. I think I see him in the hollow, He is on the high hill! I think I see him on the hill, He is leaping through the air! I think I can ride upon his back, He is like moonlight I cannot hold, He is like thoughts I lose. He flows by All white . . . He makes me think of the brook Out of the hills With its little foamy points Like his twitching ears, Like his horns of silver Sparkling.

The brook is his only friend When he travels . . . Silverhorn, Silverhorn!

SPARKLING DROP OF WATER

The sun shone,

All was still. The sun made one sparkle in one drop Before it fell Down into the mossy green That was the grass. It lay there silent A long time. The sun went, the moon came, Again one sparkle in the grass! Day then night, sun then moon, Year in, year out, So it went on with its life For several years Until at last it was never heard of Any more.

HAY-COCK

This is another kind of sweetness Shaped like a bee-hive: This is the hive the bees have lefts It is from this clover-heap They took away the honey For the other hive!

ONLY MORNING-GLORY THAT FLOWERED

Under the vine I saw one morning-glory A tight unfolding bud Half out. He looked hard down into my lettuce-bed. He was thinking hard. He said I want a friend! I was standing there: I said, Well, I am here! Don't you see me? But he thought and thought.

The next day I found him happy, Quite out, Looking about the world. The wind blew sweet airs, Carried away his perfume in the sun; And near by swung a new flower Uncurling its hands . . . He was not thoughtful Any more!

WEATHER

Weather is the answer When I can't go out into flowery places; Weather is my wonder About the kind of morning Hidden behind the hills of sky.

SUMMER-DAY SONG

Wild birds fly over me. I am not the blue curtain overhead, I am the one who lives under the sky. I swing to the tree-tops, I pick strawberries, I sing and play, And happiness makes me like a great god On the earth. It makes me think of great things A little girl like me Could not know of.

PINK ROSE-PETALS

Pink rose-petals Fluttering down in hosts, I know what you mean Sometimes, in Spring. It is love you mean.

Love has a gray bird That flutters down; A dove that comes flying Saying the same thing.

How happy it makes me to think of it, Rose-petals . . . the gray dove . . .

THE LONESOME GREEN APPLE

There was a little green apple That had lasted over winter. He had one leaf . . . In spite of that he was lonesome. He wondered what he could do When the blossoms were all around him, But one day he saw something! Petals were falling, faces were looking out, Shapes like his were coming in the buds; Then he said: "If I hold on There will be a tree-full, and I shall know more than any of them!"

I AM

I am willowy boughs For coolness; I am gold-finch wings For darkness; I am a little grape Thinking of September, I am a very small violet Thinking of May.

MUSHROOM SONG

Oh little mushrooms with brown faces underneath And bare white heads, You think of summer and you think of song . . . Why don't you think of me In my little white bed In the night? You think only of your singsong and your dances, Following your leader round and round, You think only of the grass And the green apples and leaves Dropping out of the blue . . . Why don't you think of me asleep In my little white bed? The wind thinks of me, Brown-white dancers! You forget, But the wind remembers.

THE APPLE-JELLY-FISH-TREE

Down in the depths of the sea Grew the Apple-Jelly-Fish-Tree. It was named by a queer old robber And his mates three.

I watched it for a second, I watched it for a day. It did not change color For its colors stay.

It was as red, as yellow, as white, as blue As gold and stones with the light through!

I watched it long and long Till a flying sunfish Swam through its branches. He had opal wings And a sapphire tail.

No wonder robbers like to stay Where fish so shining come to play!

THREE LOVES

Angel-love, Fairy-love, Wave-love, Which will you choose? Angel-love . . . golden-yellow and far white . . . Fairy-love . . . golden yellow and green . . . Wave-love . . . scarlet and azure blue . . . Which will you choose?

I will keep them in a box Locked with a twisted key. I will give them to people who need love, I will let them choose. Fairy-love blows away like leaves. Angels I know little about. For myself I choose wave-love Because of the wind and the sea and my heart.

THE FIELD OF WONDER

What could be more wonderful Than the place where I walk sometimes? Swaying like trees in rain . . . Swaying like trees in sunshine When breezes stir nothing but happiness . . . What could be more lovely? I walk in the Field of Wonder Where colors come to be; I stare at the sky . . . I feel myself lifting on the wind As the swallows lift and blow upward . . . I see colors fade out, they die away . . . I blow across a cloud . . . I am lifted . . . How can I change again into a little girl When wings are in my feeling of gladness? This is strange to know On a summer day at noon, This is a wild new joy When summer is over. The scarlet of three maple trees Will guide me home, Oh mother my dear! Fear nothing: I will come home Before snow falls!

MOON DOVES

The moon has a dove-cote safe and small, Hid in the velvet sky: The doves are her companions sweet; She has no others. Moon doves on the wing are white As a valley of stars, When they fly, there is shining Like a golden river. I see so many whirling away and away, How can they get home again? The moon is calm and never wears an anxious look, She goes on smiling. I hear so many doves along the sky How will her dove-cote hold them? The moon says not one word to me; She lets me wonder.

I WENT TO SEA

I WENT to sea in a glass-bottomed boat And found that the loveliest shells of all Are hidden below in valleys of sand. I saw coral and sponge and weed And bubbles like jewels dangling. I saw a creature with eyes of mist Go by slowly. Star-fish fingers held the water . . . Let it go again . . . I saw little fish, the children of the sea; They were gay and busy. I wanted the sea-weed purple; I wanted the shells; I wanted a little fish to hold in my hands; I wanted the big fish to stop wandering about, And tell me all they knew . . . I have come back safe and dry And know no more secrets Than yesterday!

THREE THOUGHTS OF MY HEART

As I was straying by the forest brook I heard my heart speak to me: Listen; said my heart, I have three thoughts for you . . . a thought of clouds, A thought of birds, A thought of flowers.

I sat upon a cushion of moss, Listening, Where the light played, and the green shadows: What would you do . . . I asked my heart . . . If you were a floating ship of the sky . . . If you were a peering bird . . . If you were a wild geranium?

And my heart made answer: That is what I wonder and wonder! After all it is life I love, After all I am a living thing, After all I am the heart of you . . . I am content!

SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAIN

Snow-capped mountain, so white, so tall, The whole sea Must stand behind you!

Snow-capped mountain, with the wind on your forehead, Do you hold the eagles' nests?

Proud thing, You shine like a lily, Yet with a different whiteness; I should not dare to venture Up your slippery towers, For I am thinking you lean too far Over the Edge of the World!

THE BROOK AND ITS CHILDREN

"O brook, running down your mossy way, I hear only your voice And the murmuring fir-trees; Where are your children? Where are the magic stones, your children?"

The brook answered me sweetly, "I left them on the Alp, In steep fields. They were trying to hold me back, To keep me from this shady path of happiness; But I went onward day by day Until they got used to seeing me pass. Now, they stand there in an enchantment On the mountain-side, While I travel fields of elm and poplar."

BIRD OF PARADISE

I was walking in a meadow of Paradise When I heard a singing Far away and sweet Like a Roman harp, Sweet and murmurous Like the wind, Far and soft Like the fir trees.

It will not change a song If the bird has a golden crest; No feathers of blue and rose-red Could make a song. I have known in my dreaming A gray bird that sang While all the fields listened! The Bird of Paradise is like flowers of many trees Blooming on one: I saw him in the meadow, But it was the gray bird I heard singing Beyond and far.

SHINY BROOK

Oh, shiny brook, I watch you on your way to the sea, And see little faces peering up Out of the water . . . Water-fairies Strange smiles and questions. They are your pebbles sweet, Golden with foam of the sun, Blue with foam of the sky. I know their way of speaking, Of talking to each other: I hear them telling secrets About green moss, about fish that get lost. And how I am sitting on a big stone Getting my feet wet in Shiny Brook To watch their surprising ways!

HILLS

The hills are going somewhere; They have been on the way a long time. They are like camels in a line But they move more slowly. Sometimes at sunset they carry silks, But most of the time silver birch trees, Heavy rocks, heavy trees, gold leaves On heavy branches till they are aching . . . Birches like silver bars they can hardly lift With grass so thick about their feet to hinder . . . They have not gone far In the time I've watched them . . .

ADVENTURE

I went slowly through the wood of shadows, Thinking always I should meet some one: There was no one.

I found a hollow Sweet to rest in all night long: I did not stay.

I came out beyond the trees To the moaning sea. Over the sea swam a cloud the outline of a ship: What if that ship held my adventure Under its sails?

Come quickly to me, come quickly, I am waiting. I am here on the sand; Sail close! I want to go over the waves . . . The sand holds me back. Oh adventure, if you belong to me, Don't blow away down the sky!

FAIRIES

I cannot see fairies. I dream them. There is no fairy can hide from me; I keep on dreaming till I find him: There you are, Primrose! I see you, Black Wing!

HUMMING-BIRD

Why do you stand on the air And no sun shining? How can you hold yourself so still On raindrops sliding? They change and fall, they are not steady, But you do not know they are gone. Is there a silver wire I cannot see? Is the wind your perch? Raindrops slide down your little shoulders . . . They do not wet you: I think you are not real In your green feathers! You are not a humming-bird at all Standing on air above the garden! I dreamed you the way I dream fairies, Or the flower I lost yesterday!

BLUE GRASS

Blue grass flowering in the field, You are my heart's content. It is not only through the day I see you, But in dreams at night When you trudge up the hill Along the forest, As I do! You are small to shine so, Nobody speaks of you much, Because of daisies and such summer blooms. When you wonder why I like you It makes me wonder too! Maybe I remember when you grew high Like a tree above my head, Because I was a fairy.

ENVOY

If I am happy, and you, And there are things to do, It seems to be the reason Of this world!