Madison Cawein - I: By Wold and Wood - The Hollow lyrics

I. Fleet swallows soared and darted 'Neath empty vaults of blue; Thick leaves close clung or parted To let the sunlight through; Each wild rose, honey-hearted, Bowed full of living dew. II. Down deep, fair fields of Heaven, Beat wafts of air and balm, From southmost islands driven And continents of calm; Bland winds by which were given Hid hints of rustling palm. III. High birds soared high to hover; Thick leaves close clung to slip; Wild rose and snowy clover Were warm for winds to dip, And one ungentle lover, A bee with robber lip. IV. Dart on, O buoyant swallow! Kiss leaves and willing rose! Whose musk the sly winds follow, And bee that booming goes;— But in this quiet hollow I'll walk, which no one knows. V. None save the moon that shineth At night through rifted trees; The lonely flower that twineth Frail blooms that no one sees; The whippoorwill that pineth; The sad, sweet-swaying breeze; VI. The lone white stars that glitter; The stream's complaining wave; Gray bats that dodge and flitter; Black crickets hid that rave; And me whose life is bitter, And one white head stone grave.