Classic Poem

I

First I asked the honeybee,
Busy in the balmy bowers;
Saying, " Sweetheart, tell it me:
Have you seen her, honeybee?
She is cousin to the flowers —
All the sweetness of the south
In her wild-rose face and mouth. "
But the bee passed silently.

II

Then I asked the forest bird,
Warbling by the woodland waters;
Saying, " Dearest, have you heard?
Have you heard her, forest bird?
She is one of music's daughters —
Never song so sweet by half
As the music of her laugh. "
But the bird said not a word.

III

Next I asked the evening sky,
Hanging out its lamps of fire;
Saying, " Loved one, passed she by?
Tell me, tell me, evening sky!
She, the star of my desire —
Sister whom the Pleiads lost,
And my soul's high pentecost. "
But the sky made no reply.

IV

Where is she? ah, where is she?
She to whom both love and duty
Bind me, yea, immortally. —
Where is she? ah, where is she?
Symbol of the Earth-Soul's beauty.
I have lost her. Help my heart
Find her! her, who is a part
Of the pagan soul of me.