THE VACANT DAY

As I did walk in meadows green

I heard the summer noon resound

With call of myriad things unseen

That leapt and crept upon the ground.

High overhead the windless air

Throbbed with the homesick coursing cry

Of swallows that did everywhere

Wake echo in the sky.

Beside me, too, clear waters coursed

Which willow branches, lapsing low,

Breaking their crystal gliding forced

To sing as they did flow.

I listened; and my heart was dumb

With praise no language could express;

Longing in vain for him to come

Who had breathed such blessedness

On this fair world, wherein we pass

So chequered and so brief a stay;

And yearned in spirit to learn, alas,

What kept him still away.