'Twas Brillig

George Cabot Lodge: Song

Out of one heart the birds and I together,

    Earth hushed in twilight,

Low through the live-oaks hung heavy with silver,

    Gemmed with the sky-light,

Under the great wet star

Shaking with light, we jar

Lute-voiced the silence with intervaled music.

While under the margined world the slow sun lingers,

    Flaming earth's portal,

Over the lilac dusk spreads his great fingers-

    Earth is immortal!

While the frail beauty dies.

Dream in the dreamer's eyes,

All the good gladness turns praise for the singers.

Hark, 'tis the breath of life! Hush! and I need it;

    Northern, gigantic-

Questing the silences, herding the sudden foam

    Down the Atlantic;

Leaves from the autumn's store

Shrill at my desert door,

They and I out of one heart that is grieving.

Anthology of Massachusetts Poets, 1922