Newcomers

So many birds have come along,

The nightingale brings her sweet song,

With lease to charm, by her own self,

The nights of this best month in twelve.

To sit up all a night in June

With that sweet bird and a full moon—

The moon with all Heav’n for her worth,

The nightingale to have this earth,

And there we are for joy—we three.

And here’s the swallow, wild and free,

Prince flyer of the air by day;

For doth he not, in human way,

Dive, float, and use side strokes, like men

Swimming in some clear lake? And then,

See how he skates the iceless pond!