Weathers

This is the weather the cuckoo likes,

   And so do I;

When showers betumble the chestnut spikes,

   And nestlings fly:

And the little brown nightingale bills his best,

And they sit outside at "The Travellers' Rest,"

And maids come forth sprig-muslin drest,

And citizens dream of the south and west,

   And so do I.

II

This is the weather the shepherd shuns,

   And so do I;

When beeches drip in browns and duns,

   And thresh, and ply;

And hill-hid tides throb, throe on throe,

And meadow rivulets overflow,

And drops on gate-bars hang in a row,

And rooks in families homeward go,

   And so do I.

The Problem

   Shall we conceal the Case, or tell it -

      We who believe the evidence?

   Here and there the watch-towers knell it

      With a sullen significance,

Heard of the few who hearken intently and carry an eagerly upstrained

sense.

   Hearts that are happiest hold not by it;

      Better we let, then, the old view reign;

   Since there is peace in it, why decry it?

      Since there is comfort, why disdain?

Note not the pigment the while that the painting determines

humanity's joy and pain!

I was not he (song)

   I was not he--the man

Who used to pilgrim to your gate,

At whose smart step you grew elate,

   And rosed, as maidens can,

      For a brief span.

   It was not I who sang

Beside the keys you touched so true

With note-bent eyes, as if with you

   It counted not whence sprang

      The voice that rang . . .

   Yet though my destiny

It was to miss your early sweet,

You still, when turned to you my feet,

   Had sweet enough to be

      A prize for me!

To a well-named dwelling

Glad old house of lichened stonework,

What I owed you in my lone work,

   Noon and night!

Whensoever faint or ailing,

Letting go my grasp and failing,

   You lent light.

How by that fair title came you?

Did some forward eye so name you

   Knowing that one,

Sauntering down his century blindly,

Would remark your sound, so kindly,

   And be won?

Smile in sunlight, sleep in moonlight,

Bask in April, May, and June-light,

   Zephyr-fanned;

Let your chambers show no sorrow,

Blanching day, or stuporing morrow,

   While they stand.

Wagtail and Baby

A baby watched a ford, whereto

   A wagtail came for drinking;

A blaring bull went wading through,

   The wagtail showed no shrinking.

A stallion splashed his way across,

   The birdie nearly sinking;

He gave his plumes a twitch and toss,

   And held his own unblinking.

Next saw the baby round the spot

   A mongrel slowly slinking;

The wagtail gazed, but faltered not

   In dip and sip and prinking.

A perfect gentleman then neared;

   The wagtail, in a winking,

With terror rose and disappeared;

   The baby fell a-thinking.