THE ANSWER

Why do I lie upon the ground

And listen to the silver sound

Of water flowing from a spring?

It sings a song I cannot sing.

Why am I gazing at the sky

To watch the clouds go trailing by?

— Pearl ships upon a sapphire sea —

They seek a land unknown to me.

Why do I listen to the song

Of pine-boughs singing all day long?

The secret that their songs unfold

Ten thousand bards have left untold.