Classic Poem

" ONE bird is come. It's blue. But there is not any other
In this whole world anywhere, and it will soon be gone.
Will you listen? " " I must hush your pretty crying brother.
Tell it — to sing on. "

" Here's one rose, the first of all. But the wind may blow and take it,
Or the frost may come again as cold as frost can be,
Or a bee that hunts for honey may light on the leaves and break it.
Will you come and see? "

" Look on the floor, my boy, and think of my distresses:
Aladdin's lamp (upset) and Blue Beard's dreadful key,
The Sleeping Beauty's coverlet and Cinderella's dresses,
Full of dust — ah, me! "

" Now a star is out. It's gold. But I tell you it will never
Look so shining any more where the water is so deep. "
" Oh, the star will stay, I fancy, somewhere in the sky forever;
I — must go to sleep.

. . . . " It will stay. But I shall stay not. Why was I sent hither,
Fair brief world, if I must leave you, having seen nor heard
(Resting in your grass an instant on my secret mission — whither?)
Star, nor bloom, nor bird?

" I would help you find the fairies (for the moon can shine on pleasure),
I would hear the bird a-singing, I would see the rose was red,
If I only had a little of the long, long leisure
I shall have — when dead. "