Music, and Other Poems

HIDE AND SEEK

                        I

     All the trees are sleeping, all the winds are still,
     All the flocks of fleecy clouds have wandered past the hill;
     Through the noonday silence, down the woods of June,
     Hark, a little hunter's voice comes running with a tune.
                  "Hide and seek!
                  "When I speak,
                  "You must answer me:
                  "Call again,
                  "Merry men,
             "Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!"

     Now I hear his footsteps, rustling through the grass:
     Hidden in my leafy nook, shall I let him pass?
     Just a low, soft whistle,—quick the hunter turns,
     Leaps upon me laughing, rolls me in the ferns.
                  "Hold him fast,
                  "Caught at last!
                  "Now you're it, you see.
                  "Hide your eye,
                  "Till I cry,
             "Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!"

                        II

     Long ago he left me, long and long ago:
     Now I wander through the world and seek him high and low;
     Hidden safe and happy, in some pleasant place,—
     Ah, if I could hear his voice, I soon should find his face.
                  Far away,
                  Many a day,
                  Where can Barney be?
                  Answer, dear,
                  Don't you hear?
              Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!

     Birds that in the spring-time thrilled his heart with joy,
     Flowers he loved to pick for me, mind me of my boy.
     Surely he is waiting till my steps come nigh;
     Love may hide itself awhile, but love can never die.
                  Heart, be glad,
                  The little lad
                  Will call some day to thee:
                  "Father dear,
                  "Heaven is here,
             "Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!"

     January, 1900.