COMPENSATION

The brook ran laughing from the shade,

And in the sunshine danced all day:

The starlight and the moonlight made

Its glimmering path a Milky Way.

The blue sky burned, with summer fired;

For parching fields, for pining flowers,

The spirits of the air desired

The brook's bright life to shed in showers.

It gave its all that thirst to slake;

Its dusty channel lifeless lay;

Now softest flowers, white-foaming, make

Its winding bed a Milky Way.