Lyrics

BIRDS are free
And winds are free,
And I, with head upon your knee,
Am free;
But oh, the birds and winds are rushing by
In every way of freedom, wide and high,
Whilst I
Beside the cabined fire
Trace all the north and south of my desire,
And all my freedom’s farthest east and west,
Upon your breast.

IF I knew a snare,
I would not spread it;
If I knew your way,
I would not tread it;
Though the tear is quick,
I will not shed it.

Nothing in me means
To give a token, —
Oh, but if you pass,
My heart is broken
With the tear unshed,
The word unspoken.

ON the trails that are all day long,
Where the young of the forest throng,
The caravans of Youth
Pass with their smiting song.

On the head of the girl that is young,
Where the thousand beads are strung,
The glamour of youth is shed
And the flower of youth is hung.

Bright at the lad’s dark side
Hangs the terrible sword of Pride,
And swift is the thrust of youth
At the wound that the old men hide.

With the sword that is Beauty’s sting,
And the speed that is Beauty’s wing,
To the throb that is Beauty’s drum,
They pass and the shadows spring.