Or else perhaps I sought some meadow low, 

 Where deep-fringed orchids reared their feathery spires, 

 Where lilies nodded by the river slow, 

 And milkweeds burned their red and orange fires ; 

 Where bright-winged blackbirds flashed like living 



coals, 



And reed-birds fluted from the swaying grass : 

 There shared I in the laden bee's delight, 

 Quivered to see the dark cloud-shadows pass 

 Beyond me ; loved and yearned to know the souls 

 Of bird and bee and flower of day and night. 



