And, irresistible, the terror fell,
And, irrepressible, the longing broke,—
Terror that seizes on the spirit spent,
Longing that swells within the homeless heart,
To yield the soul's adventure and the search,
To kiss our mother-earth, and so to end;
And o'er the long years trembling came the song
From that fair valley where his joy began,
And bird-like beat against his prison bars:
"The new grass springs, and red the willow glows;
O'er fallen showers, sweet-breathed, the rainbow smiles,
And sunset floods the fields; as in a lake
Reflected lies the bow along the grass
Rain-beaded, and is brighter in the grass
It lies on; in the black loam gleams the plough;
And all the land is freshened with the rain.
Now twilight falls, star-clear; the flowers shut;
The hills shine low—O, wilt thou never come?
The woods oblivious, venerable, dim,
Loved by the winds, and loved by quiet stars,
Listen for thee as for the feet of spring,
And 'O sweet truant' cry and cry in vain;
