Song of a Woodland Stream

Silent was I, and so still,     As day followed day.     Imprisoned until     King Frost worked his will.     Held fast like a vice,     In his cold hand of ice,     For fear kept me silent, and lo     He had wrapped me around and about      with a mantle of snow.     But sudden there spake     One greater than he.     Then my heart was awake,     And my spirit ran 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!