A SONG.
Reading edition
In the ruddy heart of the sunset,
Fading and fading still,
A planet throbs and smoulders,
Over the sapphire hill.
A mist steals up from the marshes,
Spreading tender and bright;
A heron floats from his haunt in the reeds,
Through the ruby light.
50The elm-trees towered with shadow
Seem dripping and cool with dew;
There’s a sigh in the cedar covert,
But never a breeze comes through.
A thrush keeps ringing and ringing—
Ringing—now he is still,
There’s a starry light in a window
On the dark, dark hill.
The home that’s far away
Comes stealing back to me,
With the calling of the thrushes
In the bonny birch-tree.
My eyes are full of tears
For to-day and yesterday,
For the yearning and the yearning,
And the heart that’s far away.