Soft voices and thin music and laughter all the night--
I only see a thousand leagues the Channel lights burn red;

I only hear dear English tongues forever calling me,
Across the high white English cliffs and flowers of the foam;
I only breathe sweet lilac bloom a-blowing out to sea--
A-blowing down the long sea-lanes to lead a lover home!




The Changing Year

Summer, autumn, winter, spring--
Back and forth the seasons swing;
Sun and snows returning ever,
Like the wild geese on the wing.

When the clean sap climbs the tree,
When the strong winds groan and flee--
Dance the daisies on the hill-tops
To the thin tune of the bee.

When the golden noons hang still,
Crimson flames run down the hill,
And the musk-rats in the bayou
Feel the waters growing chill.

Wood-smoke mists the naked moor;
Dead leaves shroud the forest floor;