Miracle, and Other Poems

<h2 id="id00052" style="margin-top: 4em">THE CROW</h2> <p id="id00053">  Hail, little herald!—Art thou then returning<br/> From summer lands, this wild and wind-torn day?<br/> Hast brought the word for which our hearts are yearning,<br/> That spring is on the way?<br/> Hark! Now there comes a clear, insistent calling,<br/></p> <p id="id00054">From hill tops crested with untarnished snow;<br/> The trumpet notes are drifting—floating—falling—<br/> Whene'er the breezes blow!<br/></p> <p id="id00055">  "Winter is over, and the spring is coming!"<br/> Glad is thy message, little page in black—<br/> "Winter is over, and the spring is coming—<br/> The spring is coming back!"<br/></p> <p id="id00056">  Tell me, 0 prophet, bird of sombre feather,<br/> Who taught thee all the mysteries of spring?—<br/> Didst note each passing mood of wind and weather,<br/> While flying to the North on buoyant wing?<br/></p> <p id="id00057">  Or didst thou rest upon the bare brown branches<br/> And hear the sap go singing through the trees?—<br/> Didst watch with keen, far-seeing downward glances,<br/> The leaves unlock their cells with fairy keys?<br/></p> <p id="id00058">What though thy voice hath not a trace of sweetness<br/> It thrills one through and through,<br/> With promises of Joy in all completeness<br/> What time the skies are blue.<br/> When robins from the apple-trees are flinging<br/> Out on the air their silver shower of song,—<br/> In lilac days, when children run a-singing,<br/> No single thought shall do thy memory wrong.<br/></p> <p id="id00059">  "Winter is over and the spring is coming!"<br/> Sweet are thy tidings, little page in black—<br/> "Winter is over and the spring is coming—<br/> The spring is coming back!"<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />