I left my home for travelling;
Because I heard the strange birds sing
In foreign skies, and felt their wing
Brush past my soul impatiently;
I saw the bloom on flower and tree
That only grows beyond the sea.
Methought the distant voices spake
More wisdom than near tongues can make;
I followed — lest my heart should break.
And what is past is past and done.
I dreamt, and here the dream begun:
I saw a salmon in the sun
Leap from the river to the shore —
Ah! strange mishap, so wounded sore,
To his sweet stream to turn no more.
A bird from’ neath his mother’ s breast,
Spread his weak wings in vain request;
Never again to reach his nest.
I saw a blossom bloom too soon
Upon a summer’ s afternoon;
’ Twill breathe no more beneath the moon.
I woke, warmed’ neath a foreign sky
Where locust blossoms bud and die,
Strange birds called to me flashing by.
And dusky faces passed and woke
The echoes with the words they spoke —
— The same old tales as other folk.
A truce to roaming! Never more
I’ ll leave the home I loved of yore.
But strangers meet me at the door.
I left my home still travelling,
For yet I hear the strange birds sing,
And foreign flowers rare perfumes bring.
I hear a distant voice, more wise
Than others are’ neath foreign skies.
I’ ll find — perhaps in paradise.