Classic Poem

It's joy to be up in the morning when the dew's on the grass and clover,
And the air is full of a freshness that makes it a draught divine,—
To mount one's wheel and go flying away and away,—a rover
In the wide, bright world of beauty—and all the world seems mine!

There's a breath of balm on the breezes from the cups of the wayside posies;
A hint of the incense-odors that blow through the hillside pines,
And ever a shifting landscape that some new, bright charm discloses
As I flash from nooks of shadow to plains where the sun-light shines.

Along by the brambled hedges where the sweet wild roses redden
In the kiss of morning sunshine that woos their leaves apart,
Over cool, damp sward and mosses that the sound of my swift flight deaden—
I leave the world behind me and am close to Nature's heart.

I hear the lark in the heavens and his silver song seems sweeter
Than ever before, I fancy, since I have found my wings.
Ah—the long, smooth stretch before me! and my flight grows blither, fleeter—
Good bye to the lark above me who soars in the sun and sings!

I see a flash in the bushes, and I hear a squirrel's chatter,
Half frightened, and full of wonder, as I go gliding by.
Perhaps—who knows?—he is saying that something strange is the matter
In the world beyond the woodland, since its creatures learn to fly!
I am up on the windy hilltop; oh, the fair, bright world below me!
I see the flash of the river through the forest at my feet.
What beauty, what strange, new beauty has Nature deigned to show me
In the world of which I wearied ere I felt her warm heart beat!
I sing in my care-free gladness. I am kin to the wind that's blowing!
I am thrilled with the bliss of motion like the bird that skims the down
I feel the blood of a gypsy in my pulses coming,—going!
Give me my wheel for a comrade, and the king may keep his crown!