The Thrush's Song / James Lewis Milligan

The Thrush's Song

The wind is cold, but its frosty sting
Is drawn, for the air is sweet and fresh;
And in my nostrils I scent the spring,
My spirit rejoices in the flesh!

Not one spring only, but all the springs
Yea, chiefly those that are farthest fled
Are in and about me, the thrush that sings
In yon naked tree is a thrush long dead.

Long dead ah, this is no mournful rhyme,
I sing, like the thrush, a song of hope;
He knows that death is a trick of time,
That a planet is God's kaleidoscope !

Sing, feather'd bard, till I learn your lay,
Your song of the past and the fair to be;
Spin on, bright planet, and bring that day
The summer day that is calling me !

~~
James Lewis Milligan (1876-1961)
from Songs in Time's Despite, 1910

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

James Lewis Milligan biography