No Nightingale did every chant
More welcome notes to early bands
10
Of travelers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands;
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In springtime from the Cuckoo bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
15
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago;
20
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of today?
Some natural sorrow, loss or pain,
That has been, and may be again?
Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
25
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending--
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
30
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
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