Pledges

I

What the May-apple or
Woodland anemone--
Star-perfect as a star--
Says to the honey-bee:
Or to the winds that woo,
Filling their hearts with dew:
What says the bluet’s blue
To the sun’s ray--do you
Know or do I?--

II

Listen, and you may hear
What the oxalis says
Into the downy ear
Of the pale moth that sways
There on its heart and drinks:
Or what the forest-pinks
Say to the dew that winks,
Butterfly-wing that blinks--
Glimmering by.

III

They say: “When April trod
By in a blowing blush,--
Wise as a word of God
Holding all Heaven a-hush,--
Singing a song of love,
We, as she passed above,
Sprang from the notes thereof,
Filling with joy each grove,
Beauty and mystery.”