Classic Poem

“Do you hear far music sounding
As of fiddles and bassoon?
Many a pretty girl is bounding
Yonder to the light-winged tune.”

“Why, my friend, why, what a blunder!
As to fiddles! I can't hear 'em;
Only piglings squeal out yonder
With the old ones grunting near 'em.”

“Do you hear the bugles pealing
Where the merry huntsmen pass,
And the shepherd's pipes come stealing
Whilst the still flocks crop the grass?”

“Why, my friend, the sound you're hearing
Is no pipe! no bugle blows!
But I see the swineherd nearing,
Driving home his hogs and sows.”

“Do you hear, like choirs competing,
In the distance sweetest lays?
Angels with their wings are beating
To such sounds their loudest praise.”

“Why, good sir, those dulcet snatches
Are no rivalry of song,
'Tis the screaming boy who watches
Geese, that drives his geese along.”

“Don't you hear the bells a-chiming
Wondrous sweet and wondrous clear?
Where the folk the hill are climbing
To their church, devout, sincere.”

“Why, my friend, those strains transcending
Are the bells of ox and cow,
To their gloomy stables wending
Home with foreheads drooping low.”

“See, a silent nod doth greet me!
Don't you see a wimple dance?
'Tis my own love there to meet me,
Yearning in her dewy glance.”

“Why, my friend, there's no one nodding!
But I see an old wife go
Pale and lean, on crutches plodding
To the meadow-path below.”

“Laugh, old friend, to my confusion,
Jeer at my fantastic quest,
But you can't change to delusion
What I hold deep in my breast.”