[THE SUMMONS]
I think the leaf would sooner
Be the first to break away,
Than to hang alone in the orchard
In the bleak November day.
And I think the fate of the flower
That falls in the midst of bloom
Is sweeter than if it lingered
To die in the autumn's gloom.
Some glowing, golden morning
In the heart of the summer time,
As I stand in the perfect vigor
And strength of my youth's glad prime;
When my heart is light and happy,
And the world seems bright to me,
I would like to drop from this earth-life,
As a green leaf drops from the tree.
Someday, when the golden glory
Of June is over the earth,
And the birds are singing together
In a wild, mad strain of mirth,
As the skies of June can be,
I would like to have the summons
Sent down from God to me.
I would not wait for the furrows--
For the faded eyes and hair;
But pass out swift and sudden,
Ere I grow heart-sick with care;
I would break some morn in my singing--
Or fall in my springing walk,
As a full-blown flower will sometimes
Drop, all a-bloom, from the stalk.
And so, in my youth's glad morning,
While the summer walks abroad,
I would like to hear the summons,
That must come, sometime, from God.
I would pass from the earth's perfection
To the endless June above;
From the fullness of living and loving,
To the noon of Immortal Love.
1873
[THREE YEARS OLD]
Written upon Eva Orton's third birthday.
A robin up in the linden-tree
Merrily sings this lay:
"Somebody sweet is three years old--
Three years old to-day."
Somebody's bright blue eyes look up
Through tangled curls of gold,
And two red lips unclose to say--
"To-day I am free years old."