Labor and the Angel

Chapter 31: A SONG.

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About This Book

A collection of lyrical and narrative poems that intertwine rural and natural imagery with meditations on work, love, and moral responsibility. Poems depict harvests, seasonal change, and small lives—often pairing intimate domestic scenes with broader social observation—while recurring angelic and spiritual motifs frame labor as both suffering and sacred duty. Several sequences offer seasonal songs and short dramatic narratives; others turn to elegiac or reflective moods, addressing poverty, endurance, consolation, and the consolatory powers of love and service. The tone ranges from vivid sensory description to moral and communal critique, united by plain diction and musical cadence.

A SONG.

TO B. W. B.

The world is spinning for change,
And life has rapid wings;
Oh, one needs a steady heart
Not to falter while he sings.

But this is made for my Dear One
When we are far apart;
That she may have wherever she goes
A song of mine in her heart.

A song that will move with a memory
Of something she loves best;
A song that will throb at her waking,
A song that will lull her to rest.

A song that will serve for an anchor,
Compass, and pilot, and chart;
A song that will bid her remember
That love is the crown of art.

A song that will bid her remember
The north nights cool and still,
With the thrushes fluting deep, deep,
Deep on the pine-wood hill,

With a star at her open window,
When the cuckoo wakes with a start:
Oh! can she ever forget me
With a song of mine in her heart?