[Lyric] The Skillful Listener (John Vance Cheney)

The skillful listener, methinks, may hear
The grass blades clash in suny field together,
The roses kissing, and the lily, whether
It laugh or sigh low in the summer's ear,
The jewel dew-bells of the mead ring clear
When morning's nearing in the sweet June weather;
The flocked hours winging, feather unto feather,
The last leaf wail at waning of the year.
Methinks, from these we catch a passing song,
(The best of verities, perhaps, but seem),
Hearing, forsooth, shy Nature, on her round,
When least she imagines it; birds, wood, and stream
Not only, but her silences profound,
Surprised by softer footfall of our dream.