A BALLAD OF DREAMLAND.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIII, Issue VIII, 25 August 1894, Page 181

A BALLAD OF DREAMLAND.

I HID my heart in a nest of roses, Out of the sun’s way, hidden apart; In a softer bed than the soft white snow’s is, Under the roses I hid my heart. Why should it sleep not ’ Why should it start, When never a leaf of the rose-tree stirred ’ What made sleep Hutter his wings and part ? Only the song of a secret bird.

Lie still, I said, for the wind’s wing closes. And mild leaves mu file the keen sun’s dart ; Lie still, for the wind on the warm sea dozes, And the wind is unquieter yet than thou art. Does a thought in thee still as a thorn’s wound smart ’ Does the fang still fret thee of hope deferred ? What bids the sleep of thy lids depart ? Only the song of a secret bird.

The green land’s name that a charm encloses. It never was writ in the traveller’s chart, And sweet as the fruit on its tree that grow is, It never was sold in the merchant’s mart. The swallows of dreams through its dim fields dart. And sleeps are the tunes in its tree tops heard ; No hound’s note wakens the wildwood hart, Only the song of a secret bird. ENVOI. In the world of dreams I have chosen my part, To sleep for a season and hear no word Of true love’s truth or of light love’s art, Only the song of a secret bird.

Swinburne.