The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems (Markham, Pyle, 1900)/Song of the Followers of Pan

1691778The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems — Song of the Followers of Pan1900Edwin Markham

Song of the Followers of Pan

Our bursting bugles blow apart
The gates of cities as we go;
We bring the music of the heart
From secret wells in Lillimo'.


We break in music on the morns—
Sing of the flower to stirring roots;
Apollo's cry is in the horns,
And Hermes' whisper in the flutes.


We come with laughter to the Earth,
And lightly stir the heading wheat:
Our God is Poesy and Mirth,
And loves the noise of woodland feet.


When dancers beat the air to sound,
After the time of yellow sheaves,
He stops to watch the merry round,
His pleased face looking through the leaves.