Birds, Insects, Man and Woman 1 15 



Approach, strong deliveress, 



When it is so, when thou hast taken them, I joyously 



sing the dead, 



Lost in the loving floating ocean of thee, 

 Laved in the flood of thy bliss, O death. 



From me to thee glad serenades, 



Dances for thee I propose, saluting thee, adornments and 



feastings for thee, 

 And the sights of the open landscape and the high-spread 



sky are fitting, 

 And life and the fields, and the huge and thoughtful 



night. 



The night in silence under many a star, 



The ocean shore and the husky whispering wave whose 



voice I know, 

 And the soul turning to thee, O vast and well-veiled 



death, 

 And the body gratefully nestling close to thee. 



Over the tree-tops I float thee a song, 



Over the rising and sinking waves, over the myriad 



fields and the prairies wide, 

 Over the dense-packed cities and all the teeming wharves 



and ways, 

 I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee, O death.&quot; 



It is not sacrilege to take these wonderful na 

 tive rhythms from their setting, for whether a 

 great or a lesser one depart, the office of separa- 



