A Query
Was it the Dawn that waked the bird
With yonder spark?
Or had the sleeping darkness stirred
Before the Lark?
For either rival to declare
The Winds are loth;
And blossoms, nodding everywhere,
Affirm for both.
A Duet
A little yellow Bird above,
A little yellow Flower below;
The little Bird can sing the love
That Bird and Blossom know;
The Blossom has no song nor wing,
But breathes the love he cannot sing.
God
I see Thee in the distant blue;
But in the Violet’s dell of dew,
Behold, I breathe and touch Thee too.
The Bluebird
When God had made a host of them,
One little flower still lacked a stem
To hold its blossom blue;
So into it He breathed a song,
And suddenly, with petals strong
As wings, away it flew.
Discrepancy
One dream the bird and blossom dreamed
Of Love, the whole night long;
Yet twain its revelation seemed,
In fragrance and in song.
John B. Tabb [1]
For a recitation, click the play button:
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/95460884″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
“A Query: Later Lyrics, p. 80; Poetry, p. 73. April 1893. A lark is any of a number of songbirds (family Alaudidae); only one, the Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris), lives in North America.
“A Duet”: Child Verse, p. 5; Poetry, p. 45. 1899.
“God”: Lyrics, p. 127; Poetry, p. 218. March 1895.
“The Bluebird”: Child Verse, p. 7; Poetry, p. 46. 1899. Bluebirds are songbirds belonging to the Thrush family (Turdidae); one species, the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), lives year-round in Virginia, where Father Tabb resided.
“Discrepancy”: Poems, p. 135; Poetry, p. 359. April 1893. Twain means double.