Bird Song.

Art thou not sweet,     Oh world, and glad to the inmost heart of thee!             All creatures rejoice             With one rapturous voice.         As I, with the passionate beat         Of my over-full heart feel thee sweet,     And all things that live, and are part of thee!                     Light, light as a cloud     Swimming, and trailing its shadow under me             I float in the deep             As a bird-dream in sleep,         And hear the wind murmuring loud,         Far down, where the tree-tops are bowed,--     And I see where the secret place of the thunders be                     Oh! the sky free and wide,     With all the cloud-banners flung out in it             Its singing wind blows             As a grand river flows,         And I swim down its rhythmical tide,         And still the horizon spreads wide,     With the birds' and the poets' songs like a shout in it!                     Oh life, thou art sweet     Sweet--sweet to the inmost heart of thee!             I drink with my eyes             Thy limitless skies,         And I feel with the rapturous beat         Of my wings thou art sweet--     And I,--I am alive, and a part of thee!