Classic Poem

" WHERE have you been, this long, bright day? "
I said last night to a tired child;
" I've been to the woods to see if May
Is coming, " she said, and gravely smiled.

" And what did you find, sweet searcher, — what?
How did the woods reward your quest? "
" I found one blue forget-me-not,
And a robin thinking about his nest;

" And springing grasses and clover-shoots,
And a bluebird singing overhead;
Violets under some gnarled old roots,
And nodding columbines white and red;

" Some star-flowers, too, by a shady pool,
Such wee, white things! and I bathed my feet
In a dancing rivulet, clear and cool,
And I gathered ferns and mosses sweet;

" Oh, and so many things besides!
But now I am tired, please, — good night! "
And she lays her hand in mine and glides
Gently, gracefully out of sight.

But her last words haunt me, soft and low, —
" Oh, and so many things besides! "
Ah, sweet dreamer! you little know
All the meaning that in them hides!

Faith in an end as yet unseen,
Boundless trust in a promised good, —
These were the spoils that you brought yestreen,
Richest of all, from that dim old wood!

Build, O robin, your downy nest!
Sing, O bluebird, and dance, O stream!
Spring, all green things, and own her quest!
Come, O May-time, and crown her dream!