Poems (Jackson)/Covert
NE day, when sunny fields lay warm and still, And from their tufted hillocks, thick and sweet With moss and pine and ferns, such spicy heatRose up, it seemed the air to overfill,And quicken every sense with subtle thrill, I rambled on with careless, aimless feet, And lingered idly, finding all so sweet.
COVERT.
NE day, when sunny fields lay warm and still, And from their tufted hillocks, thick and sweet With moss and pine and ferns, such spicy heatRose up, it seemed the air to overfill,And quicken every sense with subtle thrill, I rambled on with careless, aimless feet, And lingered idly, finding all so sweet.Sudden, almost beneath my footsteps' weight, Almost before the sunny silence heard Their sound, from a low bush, which scarcely stirredA twig at lightening of its hidden freight,Flew, frightened from her nest, the small brown mate Of some melodious, joyous, soaring bird, Whose song that instant high in air I heard.
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"Ah! Heart," I said, "when days are warm and sweet, And sunny hours for very joy are still, And every sense feels subtle, languid thrillOf voiceless memory's renewing heat,Fly not at sound of strangers' aimless feet! Of thy love's distant song drink all thy fill! Thy hiding-place is safe. Glad heart, keep still!"