Summer Song Of The Swallow.

You will journey many a weary day and long,     Ere you will see so restful and sweet a place,     As this, my home, my nest so downy and warm,     The labor of many happy and hopeful days;     But its low brown walls are laid and softly lined,     And oh, full happily now my rest I take,     And care not I when it lightly rocks in the wind,     For the branch above though it bends will never break;     And close by my side rings out the voice of my mate - my lover;     Oh, the days are long, and the days are bright - and         Summer will last forever.     Now the stream that divides us from perfect bliss     Seems floating past so narrow - so narrow,     You could span its wave such a morn as this,     With a moment winged like a golden arrow,     And the sweet wind waves all the tasselled broom,     And over the hill does it loitering come,     Oh, the perfect light - oh, the perfect bloom,     And the silence is thrilled with the murmurous hum     Of the bees a-kissing the red-lipped clover;     Oh, the days are long, and the days are bright - and         Summer will last forever.     When the West is a golden glow, and lower     The sun is sinking large and round,     Like a golden goblet spilling o'er,     Glittering drops that drip to the ground -     Then I spread my lustrous wings and cleave the air     Sailing high with a motion calm and slow,     Far down the green earth lies like a picture fair,     Then with rapid wing I sink in the shining glow;     A-chasing the glinting, gleaming drops; oh, a diver     Am I in a clear and golden sea, and Summer will last forever.     The leaves with a pleasant rustling sound are stirred     Of a night, and the stars are calm and bright;     And I know, although I am only a little bird,     One large serious star is watching me all the night,     For when the dewy leaves are waved by the breeze,     I see it forever smiling down on me.     So I cover my head with my wing, and sleep in peace,     As blessed as ever a little bird can be;     And the silver moonlight falls over land and sea and river,     And the nights are cool, and the nights are still, and         Summer will last forever.     I think you would journey many and many a day,     Ere you so contented and blest a bird would see;     Not all the wealth of the world could lure my love away,     For my brown little nest is all the world to me;     And care not I if brighter bowers there are     Lying close to the sun - where tall palms pierce the sky;     Oh, you would journey a weary way and a far,     Ere you would behold a bird so blest as I;     And singing close to my side is my mate - my kin - my lover;     Oh, the days are long, and the days are bright - and         Summer will last forever.