Classic Poem

[ For E. L ]

Surely , sometimes, afield through summer air
She must have wandered, till she seemed to be
Compassed with silence, saying dreamfully
Unto her heart: All dumb, — no sound is there.
Lo, then, the voice, soft-creeping from its lair
Of stillness — sudden tide of melody —
Horizon to horizon, murmurous sea
Of creature-song that held her unaware!
There's not a fallow silence in the Earth,
Nor yet in Love; although no living lips
Have set the tremulous wings of air astir;
Could she but hear, and know this wordless dearth
A little seeming, faded to eclipse
By the enfolding heart that sings to her.